


Remember Me?

by celestialkeywielder



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU, Alternative Universe - FBI, F/M, FBI, criminal minds - Freeform, marvel AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:27:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24121315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celestialkeywielder/pseuds/celestialkeywielder
Summary: !!!!TW!!!! depictions of death, rape, and violence!Dr. Drea Dean hadn't seen Bucky Barnes in a decade, but when her team becomes short-staffed, Steve Rogers decides to call in an old friend.“So what do you think?” Drea Dean had been silent before she turned to her partner, who was crouched in the center of the room, drinking in the scene. The victim, dead, had been carefully placed on the bed, had her eyes taped open, placed flat on her back with her arms crossed over her chest. She’d become stiffer as time passed, and the blood vessels in her eyes had popped, her crimson-tinted gaze beaming straight ahead. Her brunette hair was combed neatly, and the rope burns were visibly stark against the light flesh at her ankles and wrists. She was only clad in a black bra and a pair of pink underwear. She could see the nearly-black bruises around her neck."I think we need to call in backup."
Relationships: Bucky Barnes/OFC, James "Bucky" Barnes/OC, James "Bucky" Barnes/OFC, bucky barnes/oc
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	1. We Can't Do This Alone

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Marvel AU, heavily inspired by Criminal Minds containing all Marvel characters. I do not own any of these characters.

“So what do you think?” Drea Dean had been silent before she turned to her partner, who was crouched in the center of the room, drinking in the scene. The victim, dead, had been carefully placed on the bed, had her eyes taped open, placed flat on her back with her arms crossed over her chest. She’d become stiffer as time passed, and the blood vessels in her eyes had popped, her crimson-tinted gaze beaming straight ahead. Her brunette hair was combed neatly, and the rope burns were visibly stark against the light flesh at her ankles and wrists. She was only clad in a black bra and a pair of pink underwear. She could see the nearly-black bruises around her neck. 

“I think we need to call in for some backup.” he sighed, getting to his feet and dusting his hands off on his thighs. His black suit was still impeccable, even though they were witnessing a horrific, garish scene. 

“What do you mean?” Drea asked, tilting her head to the side. 

“You aren’t going to like this.” he snapped his gloves off, balling the blue latex up in his hands as he exited the room. She followed behind quickly, confusion marring her expression. “Wanda’s out on vacation, Clint’s on paternity leave, Tony retired three months ago. We’re short staffed, and this case is bigger than me, you, and Natasha can handle.” Steve shook his head, tossing his gloves into the trash can the forensic team had brought. 

“We can call in Peter.” Drea suggested her last intern, who had completed his program a few months ago and was stationed in a different New York office, near Queens. 

“Peter’s not gonna be enough, and he isn’t established enough to get cleared to work with a new team.” Steve raked his hand down his face, walking steadily towards the front door of the house as he hummed to himself. “I already know who we need to call in, and like I said, you aren’t going to like it.” 

“Well, I’m a people person, I’m sure I can handle being around some new guys.” Drea shrugged out of her coat as they approached Steve’s suburban, folding it neatly over her arm. He was quiet until they both were buckled in, and he hesitated before turning the key. 

“I think we need to call in Bucky.” he said quietly. Drea sat there in silence, unsure of how to respond. 

“Oh.” 

“I know it might be weird between the two of you, but he’s been working in sex crimes and homicides for the past ten years, and I really think his experience would be helpful for this case. This is the fifth girl in three months and we have no leads, no suspects, and our profile just isn’t fitting right. This guy is smart, he’s calculated, he doesn’t do anything without reason, and he’s doing a damn good job at tricking us.” Steve spoke quickly, defensively, as if she was mad about the decision he was making. “I really wish that it didn’t have to come to this, but we can’t call in Thor, he’s working on his own cases, Quill’s team has been chasing bomb threats, and everyone else seems to be busy.” he barely breathed as he spoke. 

“Steve. It’s okay, I’m not mad.” Drea calmed him, patting him on the arm. 

“I just really don’t want to upset you, alright? Our team’s been going so good for so long, and I know it hurt you a lot when he left.” Steve’s voice quieted, and Drea let her eyelids fall shut. “I’ll call the Beaurau when we get back to the office so they can fax the paperwork over to the sex crimes unit.” he finally turned the key in the ignition, and the familiar rumble of the black car soothed her, but just barely. 

“I’ll put together a briefing for when he gets here. I’ll have Jake pull the files from the other four victims and I’ll re-examine the profile. Did Bruce say if he found anything strange with this body that wasn’t there the last time?” 

“He said he’s getting cleaner, more practiced.” Steve spat bitterly as they merged onto the interstate. “Same victim type. White female, mid to late thirties, dark brown hair, green eyes. Still uses a belt but takes it off the victim before posing the body. The same flowers on the nightstand, the same note, they all have PhD’s, they’ve all taught at NYU. Leaves no evidence, not even a speck of DNA for us to examine.” Drea tried not to shiver as she pulled out her phone. 

“He’s mostly a classic exploitative rapist, but there’s more to it. I can’t get a handle on what he’s trying to get at.” she lamented, dialing the number for her newest intern’s phone. “Hi, Jake?” she nibbled her lip. 

“Dr. Dean, how was the, ah, the crime scene?” the twenty-five year old intern responded. 

“Much of the same. Listen, I need you to pull the other case files and have them ready on my desk. Oh, and please make sure that the profile gets to Carter? I want her to run everything through Ultron again to see if any new leads may have popped up since the last victim was discovered.” Drea drummed her fingers on the center console. 

“Got it. I’ll have it done before you get back. Oh, and, uh, there’s a delivery for you. W-we don’t know who sent it.” he stammered, and Drea felt her eyebrows furrow.

“What’s the delivery?” she frowned.

“You’ll have to see when you get here.” 

__________________________

Drea Dean and Steve Rogers began working together when they were twenty-five years old. Drea was fresh out of a forensic-psychology doctorate program, hired by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and given extensive training to clear her as an agent, though people tended to refer to her as doctor. Steve had been a part of another team in Quantico before he’d been transferred to a new team in the New York office. It was strange, creating an entirely new team in a place where another had been, but after it was shown that the office was infiltrated by Hydra, the Bureau decided to scrap the location and create a new one entirely. Deputy Director Nick Fury oversaw the initiative, nicknaming the new team the Avengers. The office was made up of the newest, brightest agents, but Drea’s original team would always hold a special place in her heart. Steve, Drea, Natasha, Bruce, Tony, Clint, and Thor headed up their first investigation three days after they met. The Chitauri Killer. He’d taken New York by storm, and managed to create fear in the hearts of every person in the city. After that, the team had become like family to her. They were people she could always count on, and they never let her down. 

Six months later, Agent James Buchanan Barnes transferred to the New York office. He was bright, charming, and got along well with every member of the office. Especially the women. He and Steve had known each other since they were children, but Bucky had been stationed in a different office than his best friend, until Fury approved his transfer. For two years he worked with the team, gaining close relationships with them all. Even though they faced so much death and destruction every day, Drea felt happy to know the people she worked with. She and Bucky became incredibly close, they’d formed a partnership and would work together on smaller cases when the big stuff was slow. They’d never had issues, at least not until they took on a case that turned out to be connected to something much bigger, much darker than they’d expected. What seemed to be a simple arms dealer bust turned into discovering human trafficking ring led by Hydra, and after being held hostage by the head, Arnim Zola, Bucky transferred from the New York office out to Quantico to work in the sex crimes unit there. Without a word to anyone on his team. 

Drea rested her head against the window of Steve’s car, traffic had held them longer than she wanted, and the sun was nearing the horizon. 

“I just want to catch this son of a bitch.” Steve sighed, smacking his palm against the side of the steering wheel.

“You and me both.” she pursed her lips, turning to look at him. “I’ll buy everyone a round when this is all over. It has felt like a lifetime.” 

“Well, it has been. I think time goes by slower since Tony left.” he sighed. 

“Only because it’s Sharon who’s our technical analyst now and not him.” she teased. 

“It’s weird!” he complained. “My ex-wife’s niece who I didn’t know existed until after we divorced kissed me in a bar and now I have to pretend like it didn’t happen?”

“We all know it’s weird, Steve.” Drea smirked, rapping her knuckes against the window. “Doesn’t mean it isn’t funny. I like Sharon, though. Good worker. Nice girl.” 

“I think time has seemed to go slower since Peter left, too.” Steve changed the subject. “No offense to Jake, but Peter is already better than all of us, and having him around made things so much easier.” 

“I miss him too. He sent me a text the other day, he’s got his own office and everything now. Part of his new team of young kids. Oh god, are we getting old?” she sat up. “I just referred to a bunch of twenty-year olds as kids!”

“Well, we’re nearing our fifteen year anniversary.” he joked as he pulled into his parking spot, cutting the engine as she took off her seatbelt. She cringed, realizing they’d known each other almost thirteen years.

“God, that’s awful!” Drea cursed under her breath as she exited the car. Steve’s reserved spot was great, almost right next to the front doors. Hers was at least a few stalls down, but then again he barely let her drive, so she couldn’t complain. She held the door open for her partner, and he walked inside, nodding to the people in the front office as they headed to the elevator. The first few floors were reserved for questioning, visitors, weapons vaults, storage, forensic labs, and autopsies. The top was where they did most of their work, conference rooms, desks, the works. 

“We should celebrate.” Steve suggested, and she scoffed. “Another year of getting older.” once the elevator doors opened, any quip Drea was going to make died in her throat. Sitting outside of her office was a fresh bouquet of chrysanthemums. She could recognize those flowers from a mile away. 

“Steve?” she didn’t know how to react, and thankfully her partner and best friend took the initiative. 

“When did they get here?” he strode across the room, pulling a latex glove from his pocket and plucking the creamy white envelope from where it was attached. “Did anyone touch this? Read this?” 

“I-I received the delivery while Dr. Dean was gone. It was about an hour ago, maybe more? Natasha questioned the delivery guy.” Jake meekly stepped to the side as Nat strode towards Steve, file in hand. 

“Guy worked at 1800-Flowers. Delivery was requested online, a dozen chrysanthemums, white. Paid for with a gift card, Sharon traced the number. Gift card was bought three days ago at a CVS, paid for in cash. No camera footage from the time of the sale, their system was doing a scheduled update.” Steve flipped through the papers as Natasha briefed him on the situation. 

“Hey hon, I got you some water.” Sharon appeared next to Drea with a dixie cup filled to the brim. She took a sip, sighing. 

“Okay, any prints, anything strange about them?” she got back to business, slipping over to where Steve was glaring at the papers. Natasha shook her head. 

“No return address for the order, the name they wanted signed was the same as the others. Anhelo.” the redhead pursed her lips.

“How the hell does he get a threat into the office without leaving a trail?” he scoffed. 

“Give me the note. I want to see what it says.” Drea held her hand out, and Steve handed it over without question. She ripped the envelope, scanning over the familiar print. 

“‘O, here will I set up my everlasting rest, and shake the yoke of inauspicious stars from this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last! Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you the doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss a dateless bargain to engrossing death!’” Sharon recited, reading from over Drea’s shoulder. She tried not to shudder.

“It’s the same Shakespeare quote, but why send it here? We already have all of this information, what is he trying to tell us?” Drea huffed, running her hand through her hair as she dropped the letter into the evidence bag Natasha procured. 

“Chrysanthemums, Romeo and Juliet, the name Anhelo, what does this mean?” Steve rubbed his chin, scratching at his beard, something he did when he was frustrated. 

“It was addressed to Dr. Dean. He wants her to have it.” Jake interjected, and she pursed her lips. 

“Me specifically? I’m not heading this case, Steve is.” Drea frowned. 

“We’ll have to go over the new information in the morning, it’s already past six.” Steve sighed, dragging his hand down her face. “I still have to fax over the paperwork to the Quantico office.” 

“Why, what’s in Quantico?” Sharon asked with a confused look.

“We’re short staffed, calling in for some experienced help with this type of unsub. Hopefully, he can be here by tomorrow afternoon.” Drea crumpled the dixie cup in her hand with a grimace, tossing it in the garbage. 

“Who?” Natasha crossed her arms suspiciously, and Drea and Steve shared a look. 

“Bucky Barnes.” they replied in unison.


	2. Chapter Two: Somebody's Watching Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a Marvel AU, heavily inspired by Criminal Minds containing all Marvel characters. I do not own any of these characters.

Drea was pacing the conference room, case file in her hands, countless papers strewn over the tabletop. She’d already had two cups of coffee and re-read the note for the millionth time. All she wanted was to deliver the profile to Barnes and get it over with, but instead she had to keep agonizing over what she would say when he arrived. Would he be friendly? Cold? Would he try to pick up where they left off, or pretend like nothing happened? She had no idea what to expect.

“He’s late.” she grumbled, and Steve sighed from his seat at the head of the table.

“Well, he decided to drive up.” Steve was texting on his phone, probably to Tony. The two of them could bicker for days, but they were still close friends that kept in touch as much as possible.

“Drive? It’s not that far, only about five hours, right?” Sharon asked. 

“He drives a motorcycle.” Steve explained. “Might have needed more stops.”

“He’s pulling up now.” Natasha called, pointing out the window. Everyone turned and stared down at the parking lot as the figure dressed in all-black kicked down the stand of his bike. Black jeans, black motorcycle jacket, black combat boots. Drea frowned. He didn’t dress like that when she knew him. He’d worn a suit, like Steve still did, and always was neatly groomed with a grin on his face. She could see the black leather gloves on his hands as he pulled his helmet off, and when she saw his face she had to hold in her gasp of surprise. He’d changed. No longer clean shaven with short hair, he had scruff and long, dark locks. She couldn’t see his expression from the distance, but it wasn’t familiar from what she could tell. He kept his gloves on as he strode purposefully towards the front doors. 

“Well, he’s not what I expected.” Sharon commented, and Drea turned to face her. The blonde had her arms crossed and her perfectly shaped eyebrows raised. It wasn’t who she expected, either. He was almost unrecognizable. It was only a few short moments later that he appeared in the doorway, an easy smile settling over his face. 

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been here. Wow.” he chuckled, glancing around the room. Drea glanced at the gloves he still wore and tried not to wince. She’d heard about what had happened a few years ago. A HYDRA raid went wrong, and he’d survived a nasty fall but lost his arm. Fortunately, he got an incredibly sophisticated prosthetic, but he didn’t seem eager to show it off. “Forgot just how damn stuffy it is.” Steve got to his feet with a grin.

“Buck,” his friend breathed, pulling him in for a hug. “Good to see you. You need to call more often.” When they separated, Natasha reached out for a squeeze. 

“Or just call at all.” she berated him. It seemed that James Buchanan Barnes kept in touch with everyone but Drea. She tried not to get choked up at the thought. 

“Yeah, Sam and I have been busy lately. Sorry.” he chuckled, referencing his new partner Sam Wilson. She tried not to scowl. “So, what’s the case that’s got you all stumped?” Bucky drawled without even a glance in her direction. It appeared she didn’t have to worry about what to say to him. He was just going to pretend like they’d never met. 

“Straight to business, alright. Agent Dean, could you start us off?” Steve gestured towards her, and it was the first time Bucky looked at her. And the feeling of those blue eyes on her, it was so familiar it ached. He took a seat between Sharon and Natasha, but he didn’t aim that signature suave Barnes smile at the blonde, something he would’ve done for sure a decade ago. Something had definitely changed. 

“Our unidentified subject is white, and he’s in his mid to late twenties. He’s someone who blends in, who you wouldn’t notice at first glance. He’s violent, but careful - very organized.” Drea paused.

“Organized killers usually have a skilled job, something that could be technology related, or something involving the use of the hands.” Sharon interjected. Drea nodded before continuing.

“He’s psychopathic, not psychotic. Smart. He watches the news, he has good hygiene. Someone that these women either trust or are tricked by, no signs of forced entry into their homes. Because he’s smart, the only evidence you’ll find is what he lets you find. The crime scenes are far enough apart that he’d need a vehicle. It will be well kept, obsessively clean, as well as his home.

“His murders have all involved rapes.” she continued. “Tapes the eyes open, sign of an exploitative rapist. He wants his victims to see him, he doesn’t want them to look away, his goal is more related to the victim watching him than the act itself. Any psychiatric evaluations of our unsub would show a history of paranoia, stemming from a childhood trauma, a death of someone close to him. Now, he feels persecuted. Watched.” 

“Murder gives him a sense of power. He strangles the victims, his first one he used his hands. It was sloppy, hard to control. He’s since learned and uses a belt, a brand new one each time. Clean, organized, brutal. Crushes the windpipe, leaves the belt after posing the body.” Natasha explained. 

“Since organized killers have a fascination with law enforcement, they’ll inject themselves into the investigation, sometimes come forward as witnesses just to see how much the police really know. It makes them feel powerful, in control. I believe we’ve already come in contact with him.” Drea mentioned, nodding towards Steve. 

“Give me some specific details of these murders. Walk me through the scenes.” Bucky leaned forward, raking his eyes over the pictures on the board behind Drea. 

“Same thing every time. Positioned flat on their backs on the bed, tape still on their eyes, but their hair is brushed and neat. Arms are always crossed over their chest, their bras and underwear are put back on them. Ropes are always removed prior to posing, and we already mentioned the belt.” Natasha explained.

“Why does he re-dress them? Take off their bonds, take off the belt?” he frowned.

“We think it has something to do with victimology. He chooses them based on looks, suggesting either a type or an obsession, and he may be projecting someone else’s image onto them, causing remorse after the fact. White females, late thirties with brown hair, green eyes, all have taught at NYU. Suggests an obsession with a professor, or a woman in the scientific community that he admires, has become obsessed with.” Steve frowned. “We’ve given warnings to the female faculty there to watch out for any suspicious characters, but we haven’t been able to utilize a police presence since the murders have happened in their own homes.”

“What’s with the flowers? Any significance?” Bucky had the familiar gleam in his eye that meant he was piecing something together.

“Chrysanthemums, white. Always a dozen, always come with a note. Quoted from Romeo and Juliet.” Drea turned, pulling a photocopy of the note she’d received yesterday from the corkboard and sliding it across the table towards him. He took a quiet moment to read, pointing his finger at the passage. 

“‘Eyes, look your last’ and ‘arms, take your last embrace’ match with his posing.” he pointed out. “This is quoted from Romeo’s suicide scene. Why is he quoting a suicide when he’s raping and killing these women?” he glanced up, already knowing the answer, but watching to see if anyone else picked up on it. It was silent for a moment before anyone said anything.

“Oh.” Drea’s eyes widened, turning back to face the board. “Oh, shit. He’s on a mission. He’s Romeo, and he’s working his way up to Juliet. He’s practicing.” she turned back to the table. “Who is he practicing for?” she bit her lip, thinking as hard as she could. They’d interviewed nearly every woman at NYU at this point, and she was lost.

“Shit.” Sharon stood, eyes wide with alarm as she stared at Drea. 

“Brunette doctors with green eyes, work in social sciences, white, late thirties.” Steve glanced up at Drea, brows pulled together in concern. “It’s…” he gulped, scrubbing his hand over his face. “It’s you.” he sighed defeatedly.

“And there we have it.” Bucky stood, straightening the papers that had been in front of him. 

“I was looking at the flowers wrong. White chrysanthemums, I looked into their meaning as death, but it’s loyalty, devotion.” Sharon scrambled for a paper on the table, reading it quickly. “Anhelo, Spanish for longing, yearning. He’s been giving us hints the whole time and we’ve been looking at it all the wrong way.” she growled.

“No, that doesn’t make any sense. It’s not me.” Drea shook her head, pursing her lips. “We’re missing something.” 

“Drea, it’s you.” Steve insisted. “He sent the last bouquet to you. I’m taking you off the case, we’re putting you in a safe house.” he strode over, grabbing her elbow. “I’ll call Fury for a security detail, and-”

“You’re not taking me off the case.” she scoffed, yanking her arm from his grip. “He doesn’t know that we know he’s trying to target me. If I suddenly disappear he might panic, might disappear. He might go into hiding and then we’ll lose him for good.”

“At the very least you’ll need extra security, and you can’t stay alone. Sharon, can you go to her apartment and pick up some of her stuff, enough for a few days? Bring it to my house, I’ll give you the key. Take Jake with you, he can help.” Steve ordered. 

“No, Jake needs to stay here, it’s his internship and he’s helping me put together the profile.” Drea shook her head. 

“Andrea.” Ouch. He used her legal name. “You need to listen to me.” Steve grabbed her by the shoulders, staring straight into her eyes. “This is serious. You are being targeted by a psychopath who is obsessed with you. You need to be careful. I want you to go to my house and stay safe.” she kept quiet. 

“Can you guys leave the room for a minute?” she asked the team, and they all got up, walking towards the door. She didn’t break eye contact, but in her peripheral vision she could see that Bucky lingered, gaze flicking between Drea and Steve for a moment before following the rest of the group out. As soon as the door clicked shut behind them, she let out a shuddering sigh. “You are not taking me off this case.”

“You have to understand-” 

“Five women died because of me.” he went silent at her statement. She stared up at him, eyes blazing, voice shaking. “Five women were killed because of an obsession some pervert has with me. You have no right to take me off this case. I need to stop this bastard.”

“I just want you to be safe.” his blue eyes closed, long lashes brushing his cheekbones as he sighed.

“Hey. Who the hell else would I trust to watch my back more than I trust you?” a smile quirked on her lips and he let out a chuckle.

“Fine. Fine! But you’re still staying with me. And you don’t go anywhere alone.” he groaned, tugging at his tie. 

“We need to re-examine the case from this new angle. We need to check for different targets. I’ve only been a guest lecturer at NYU, I didn’t know any of these women, but I’m sure there could be more who fit the profile. I want class rosters from the past three years in all of their classes. It’s gotta be a social science major, sociology or psych. No one would have taken all of these classes otherwise. Talk with Jake about any suspicious people in his classes, anyone who started talking to him after he got the internship with me. They’ve gotta be looking for an in, finding out where I live, who I’m with.” Drea paced, mind going a mile a minute. 

“First things first, I need a goddamn coffee.” he muttered, heading towards the door. “Do you want anything from the breakroom?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow. 

“I’ll come with.” She followed him to the coffee machine, watching as he scooped the grinds into the top to refill the empty pot. 

“Go ahead.” Steve smirked, glancing at the cupboard above the refrigerator. 

“Oh, shut up.” Drea muttered, reaching up and grabbing a box labeled “Dean”. Inside was a stockpile of slim jims. Steve knew that whenever she got stressed out she ate the processed junk. It was brain food in her opinion. She bit down on the end, moving to put her hair up so she could get to work as soon as Steve was finished making coffee. 

“You still eat that crap?” an all-too familiar voice came from the doorway, and Drea turned in surprise, the stick hanging from between her teeth. 

“Hey, Buck.” Steve gave a tentative smile, glancing over at her as he moved towards his old friend. “Need something?” 

“Nah, just wanted to pick someone’s brain. Got a second?” Steve nodded, and Drea shuffled towards the door, trying to edge past them. 

“I need to talk to Jake about maybe changing our profile to a student.” Bucky’s eyes met hers, and the electric blue nearly froze her in place. She tried not to shiver under his scrutiny.

“Good idea. It could be either a present or former student or another person who works for the university.” she nodded, attempting to sneak past him again, but he held out an arm to stop her, placing his palm on her arm. She could feel the warmth even though his glove, and she swallowed hard. “Oh, by the way. Great work in there.” he sounded genuine, and it definitely wasn’t something she expected to hear from him. It took her a long moment to respond.

“Oh. Thanks.” she nodded, successfully leaving the break room and rushing toward her office. Jake was sitting outside, tapping his pencil on his desk as he read over the case file. Steve pressed his lips into a thin line as he noticed Bucky watching her scurry across the room. The dark haired man sighed, turning back to face his best friend.

“I thought you said you could handle this.” Steve raised his eyebrow at him.

“Did you know they were targeting her before you asked me here?” Bucky asked in an accusatory tone. Steve took a slow sip from his mug before replying.

“Imagine how hard it is to find five bodies that all look just like your best friend. Every single one, that victimology, all you can think about is finding her dead body next.” he sighed. “I thought I was going insane. I called you in before they sent her the flowers.” 

“How the hell did the calling card of our unsub get into this building without anyone being able to figure out where they came from?” Bucky scoffed. 

“It was signed Anhelo. We know who’s sending it. We just can’t find him.” 

“The pen name makes no difference. He’s mocking us, dangling his threat in front of us. I swear to god, if anything happens to her-”

“You have no right to speak on that and you know it.” Steve lost his temper for a moment, getting up in one of his closest friend’s face. He and Bucky had been friends since childhood, they knew each other better than anyone else. “You lost your chance at her.”

“What, now you’re swooping in to steal her from under my feet?” Bucky’s eyes turned cold. 

“Nobody’s swooping in. It’s not like that between her and I. And, even if it was, what makes you think you have any right to stake a claim? You choked and you left. I had to go and pick up the pieces. She was hurt. Still is. I thought she’d be mad when I told her you were coming, you know what she said? Nothing. She’s moved on. And so should you.” Steve warned him. “Now, you had something relevant to talk to me about?” Bucky didn’t back down, the two men glared intently at each other until Bucky sighed, running his gloved hand through his long hair.

“I think our unsub’s FBI.”


	3. Chapter Three

“Thanks, Jake. Can you please give the updated version to Sharon?” Drea sighed, sitting back in her chair and rubbing her temples. They’d brainstormed for the last forty-five minutes on the student slash faculty profile. 

“Y-yeah, no problem. Could I, uh, can I get you anything else?” Jake asked. He was always so nervous to talk to her, anyone in authority really. She understood it as a mixture of fear and excitement for his opportunity to work with something he sees as important. He was always eager to please, he was bright, and was a great worker. She was happy with him so far, but she felt guilty every time she missed Peter. He was quite literally the greatest intern she’d ever had. She made a mental note to shoot him a text later.

“World peace?” she offered sarcastically. He barked out a laugh, ducking his head as he left her office, giving her a glance over his shoulder before he disappeared from view. 

“Hey,” Natasha rapped on the doorway. “I’ve got a lead on a witness. Someone called the hotline and said they thought they saw the last victim let someone in on the night they were killed.” 

“The unsub?” Drea was already on her feet, shoving her gun in her holster as she grabbed her jacket. 

“We could only be so lucky.” Nat shrugged, leading her towards the elevator bay. Drea glanced out the window as they walked, noting the windy, sunny, beautiful spring day. She felt a sneeze coming on just thinking about the pollen and tried not to shudder. She’d take a Benadryl if she could, but they almost always knocked her out within ten minutes.

“Wait! Where are you two going?” Steve jogged up to them.

“Potential witness to someone entering yesterday’s victim’s house. Want to go and question them quickly before they forget any important details.” Natasha called over her shoulder. 

“And you two are going alone?” Steve looked concerned, and Drea rolled her eyes. 

“We’re questioning a witness, not chasing a suspect. Call me in an hour, if I don’t pick up you can freak out then.” she snarked as she stepped into the elevator. 

“What’s the worst that can happen?” Natasha shrugged.

“Don’t say that to me.” Steve waved a finger at them, his other hand on his hip. 

“Don’t worry, dad.” Drea teased with a smirk as the doors shut. 

“I’ll never understand you two. It’s like you should be a couple, but the thought of it is actually disgusting.” Drea wrinkled her nose at Natasha’s statement. 

“We’ve been partners for ten years. We’ve gone through a lot together. That can either make or break a friendship, and it really made ours.” she explained. “Not just work stuff either, for me there was a time when I thought I couldn’t trust anyone in this line of work and he proved me wrong. And, well, when he and Peg got divorced… Bucky wasn’t around and I was the only one he could turn to.” the doors opened again, and they stepped out on the ground floor, heading towards Natasha’s charger. 

“I find it so strange. No offense, but we’ve all been working together the same amount of time, and we’re friends, but it’s something else with you and Steve. It’s almost like you two have something else in common that you’re embarrassed to admit.” Nat accused. 

“What are you talking about?” she huffed at the redhead as she got into the car. 

“Don’t play dumb. You and Barnes were absolutely inseparable until that last case you worked together. What happened between you two that ended so badly?” 

“It’s been ten years, Nat, I hardly remember-”

“What did I say about playing dumb?” Natasha pursed her lips, tipping her sunglasses lower to glare at her coworker. Drea waited a while before replying.

“I don’t know what happened.” she admitted. “I think he might blame me. For what happened during that last case.”

“What do you mean?” Nat asked as she pulled out of the parking lot. 

“We split up. My idea.” she admitted. “I went in the front, he was supposed to wait around back. They took him. Kept him for two days before I got to him.” she scoffed. “I was too cocky, I don’t know what I was thinking. And when I saw him again, he was different. Couldn’t look me in the eye, couldn’t talk to me like we used to be able to. We were so close, we were… I… I don’t know. Then, he just left without a word. This is the first time I’ve seen him since then and I’m not sure how I’m supposed to react.”

“Did you love him?” Natasha’s question was asked in such a casual way that Drea choked. 

“I-I- you can’t- we weren’t-” Drea stuttered, taking a deep breath. “Does it matter?” she demanded.

“I know you two never dated.” Nat rolled her eyes. “I’m just asking. If there was nothing more that you felt for him, I don’t think you’d be as worked up as you are now. So. Were you in love with him?” 

“If I say no would you believe me?” Drea sighed, slumping into her seat. 

“Nope. Did he love you?” the redhead glanced over again, a furrow between her brows. 

“I used to think so. But the way he left… could you do that to someone you loved?” Drea’s question hung between them. Natasha apparently didn’t have an answer to that. 

“You know what would drive him crazy?” a lazy half-smirk appeared on her full lips. “If you pretended like nothing he does affects you in any way.” 

“If only it were the truth.” Drea sighed woefully. 

“Why do you think he came back for this case?” Natasha asked.

“Honestly?” Drea paused, thinking carefully. “I have no idea.” They were quiet the rest of the way to their witnesses address. It was directly across the street from where their victim had been killed, and Drea gave a cursory glance to catalogue any differences since the previous day. Forensics was still combing the exterior, taking pictures and taping off evidence. 

“This is it.” Natasha parked on the side of the road, staring up at the residence. 

“Let’s get this over with.” Drea sighed, flinging the door open and heading to the front door. She rapped on it quickly as Natasha came around the front of the car, hurrying up the porch steps to stand with her. After a long moment, someone cracked the door open. A woman, no younger than fifty stood on the other side. She was grey around the temples, her frizzy blonde hair pulled back into a low, haphazard bun, her cheeks red, likely rosacea. Drea couldn’t help but nitpick each and every person she came across in an investigation.

“Mrs. Culligan?” Natasha asked, and she nodded. She snapped open her badge, and Drea followed suit. “SSA Natasha Romanoff with the FBI, this is Dr. Drea Dean, you called us?” she nodded again, widening the door to allow them entrance.

“Please, come in. Would you two like anything to eat, drink?” Mrs. Culligan asked, wiping her hands on the front of her jeans.

“No, thank you.” Drea turned her down, glancing around the home. It was cozy, borderline cluttered, covered in family photographs. 

“Ma’am, you told me over the phone that you might have seen something the other night?” Natasha got straight to business, and the woman sighed. 

“Well, I’m afraid it isn’t much, but I remember seeing a white man, younger, probably early thirties or younger. He had shorter, lighter hair, and he wasn’t very tall, probably just a hair taller than myself. He knocked, didn’t drive here or anything, at least I didn’t see any car out front that wasn’t Kirsten’s. I didn’t watch anything after that, I figured it was a nephew or a student. Some of her grad students come and drop off work at the house on weekends, so I didn’t think twice about it until… well, until the police cars were outside.” she explained, wringing her hands together. She most likely felt guilty about not doing or saying more.

“That is helpful, I’ll call Steve and let him know.” Natasha reassured the woman, turning away and pulling out her phone. 

“Thank you ma’am, is there anything else you remember seeing or hearing? Did you see him leave at all?” Drea asked as Nat murmured into her cell.

“No, I didn’t see him leave, and I didn’t hear anything either. It’s unsettling, knowing that something so… horrible happened, and I was asleep in my bed, not knowing a thing.” she shivered, and Drea placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. 

“This information is more helpful than you know, Mrs. Culligan. Make sure that you stay safe. We’re going to do our best to find who did this.” she reassured her.

“It's good to know that there’s people like you out in this world trying to stop people like that.” Mrs. Culligan shuddered again, and Drea paused, heart sinking for a moment. It was because of her that this was happening in the first place.

“Of course.” she nodded stiffly, and Nat slipped her phone back into her pocket. 

“Ready to go? I wanted to stop at the school on the way back, get some information from the other professors.” Natasha placed a hand on her hip. Drea gave a quick nod.

“Thank you, again.” Drea pursed her lips, following the woman to the front door. “Please, let us know if you remember anything else.” and then they were off, to the next stop, to the next victim, suspect, witness. Drea wondered if they’d ever get to the bottom of it.   
_____________

“Buck, I’m listening. I am. But, we have a witness, they said it was someone young, a kid. A person in the police force just doesn’t make sense.” Steve sighed, rubbing his temples. Bucky was pacing in front of his friends desk, running his hands frantically through his hair.

“What if it’s someone just starting out? Recent grad, something like that, new hire, child prodigy, I don’t know. I just, I know that the son of a bitch is on the inside, he’s gotta be, I can feel it.” he sighed, eyes intense on Steve’s. 

“I understand where you’re coming from, and I wish we could pursue that. But I can’t risk this entire investigation on a gut feeling.” Steve placed his hands on the desktop, pushing his chair back. He and Buck were the only ones upstairs at the moment, everyone else was out doing work. “We have a witness saying it was someone that was probably around a student’s age. I have to go with that. I’m sorry.” 

“I know you do, Steve.” Bucky sighed. “None of this is making any sense, and it’s driving me nuts.” 

“Yeah, you and me both.” he tapped the back of his chair. “Sitting here crying about it isn’t gonna do us much good.”

“What can we do? I’m still waiting on Sharon’s program to finish running, but she isn’t here to tell us the results yet.” Bucky mentioned.

“They still aren’t back? Dammit.” Steve shoved his fists in his pockets. “I figured they’d be done by now. Think they’re snooping around my house?” he joked.

“Probably. You’re Mr. Hardass around here, right? Figure they’d put some of those pop it things under your toilet seat to scare you in the middle of the night.” Bucky snorted.

“No one on my team is that juvenile.” Steve rolled his eyes. “Especially not Sharon and Jake. They’re both too smart for their own good.” 

“How long has the intern been here?” Bucky asked, picking up a picture frame of Steve and Drea at a bar, both halfway to shitfaced and dying of laughter at some dumb joke that he couldn’t remember if he tried. 

“Few months. Real bright, real awkward.” he sighed. “Just like the rest of em.” 

“I worked with her last one, Peter. There was a prostitution ring in Queens about two months ago, one of his first big cases. Called in for me specifically. Told me you made sure he knew that I’d be good in a case like that.” Buck quirked an eyebrow. “Trying to get me to come back to New York more often or something?”

“Don’t flatter yourself. Before he started his new team I gave him a list of individuals who would be good help in specific situations. You’re one of many.” Steve plucked the picture frame from his friend’s hands, smiling at the photo. “Besides, you’re a pain in my ass. Why would I want you around more often? I invite you back for one case and all of a sudden you try to take over our lead.”

“I’m not trying to take over your lead. I just feel like we’re going in two different directions. You and Drea have something wrong.” Bucky groaned.

“Oh, and you’re always right?” Bucky and Steve whirled, Drea standing stiffly in the doorway. “So sorry to inconvenience you by asking you to come here for help and then not throwing months of work out the window.” 

“That’s not what I-” Buck protested, and she just held a hand up.

“I don’t care right now. Steve, we’ve gotta get to the hospital. Jake and Sharon just got attacked at my house.” her expression was hard, determined, and Steve immediately snapped into action. 

“Brief me on the way there. Buck, stay here with Natasha and log into Sharon’s system. Call up Tony, see if he’ll consider coming out of hiding for a few days.” Steve grabbed his keys and suit coat, sliding his arm around Drea’s waist, and she practically slumped into his side as they walked. Bucky stood there, staring, half in shock and half in awe. The way the two of them moved, worked together, it was intuitive, neither of them had to speak to get the point across. 

“Jake called me, from the hospital. Sharon’s in ICU, in surgery, she was shot by the unsub, police are currently canvassing the property.” Drea babbled.

“What about Jake?” they took the stairs, neither of them willing to stand around waiting for the elevator. 

“He got bashed over the head pretty good, but he’ll be fine.” she let out a shaky breath, shoving open the doors and beelining for Steve’s car. 

“They find the gun?” he asked. 

“It was hers. Jake said he got hit, Sharon drew her firearm and the guy disarmed her. Didn’t get the greatest look, said he was still seeing stars, but as soon as he came to he called an ambulance. The guy left the gun. No prints.” she sighed, scrubbing her hand over her face in frustration. 

“Did he break into the place?” Steve asked, peeling out of the lot and heading East towards the hospital. 

“No, it was right off the front porch. Broad daylight, bastard is getting cocky.” she swore, taking out her phone and checking her messages. 

“How did Jake know it was our guy? What if it was someone else?” Steve asked, and she opened her mouth and paused.

“Who else would it be, waiting outside my house? You think there’s multiple people after me?” Drea asked. 

“You’re right.” Steve sighed. “Fuck. Did they say if she’d be okay?” 

“I don’t know.” she murmured, biting her lip. It was her fault that Sharon had been hurt. Knowing there were countless strangers was different from when it was someone she saw every day. Despite the issues between Steve and Sharon, she really liked her, and considered her a friend. “Fuck.” she groaned. “Can you drive any faster?”

“We’ll be there in five minutes. It’s alright.” Steve soothed her, holding out his palm. Drea grabbed it and squeezed. She grunted in response, staring out the window. She had way too much on her mind. 

“Do you think he shot Sharon because we’re getting close?” she asked what was running through her mind.

“Maybe.” he replied, turning down the road the hospital was on. “Maybe he was just surprised that someone he wasn’t expecting showed up.” 

“It doesn’t make sense. She isn’t his type.” she huffed. “He always hits at night, why would he be outside my house in the middle of the day?” she gnawed on her lip. “Unless…”

“He was expecting you to get taken off the case and to go home early.” Steve finished her thought. 

“How does he know what we know as soon as we get it?” she groaned.

“Well…” he hesitated as he pulled in a space, and she squinted at him. “Never mind.” 

“What? You aren’t telling me something, what is it?” she demanded, crossing her arms and staring him down. 

“Bucky was talking to me this morning, and he thinks it's someone in the force.” Steve sighed. “I told him it wouldn’t be possible, the witness said she saw a younger guy going into the house.” he explained, and Drea frowned. “Forget I said anything, he could be finding out in a hundred different ways.” 

“What if he has a parent on the force? Someone trying to cover for him?” she drew her words out slowly. Steve stayed silent. 

“I’ll text Nat.” he whipped out his phone, and the pair walked up to the front doors as Steve tapped away, sending the new information. 

“See, this is why you don’t keep things from me. You miss out on my ideas.” she scolded him, and he sighed. 

“Well, Buck said it was a gut feeling, and I don’t think we should base any of our profile solely on that.” they made it to the desk, where the woman was clacking away at the keyboard. 

“Can I help you?” she didn’t look up at them. 

“We’re here for Sharon Carter, she was brought to the emergency room about a half hour ago?” she clicked away after Drea asked her question, and they waited in silence as she searched. 

“Second floor, room 207 is where they’ll be bringing her after she’s out of surgery.” she still hadn’t glanced up, and she and Steve shared an annoyed glance before heading to the elevator bay. 

“It’s a good sign she’s still in surgery, right? That she didn’t… I don’t know, bleed out or anything?” Drea fretted as she pressed the up arrow. Steve hummed, looking back down on his phone. 

“Nat cross-referenced anyone at NYU with parents in the FBI, got two hits. She and Bucky are going to go take a look before we get back.” he mentioned as they stepped into the elevator. They rode up to the second floor quietly, Drea studying her reflection. Dark hair, green eyes, light complexion. Looking like her is what got those other women killed. But it was so… she lost the word she was looking for as her reflection disappeared, the elevator doors opening to the gleaming white corridor. It smelled clean, almost too clean, burning her nostrils. Memories from ten years ago, right after her last case with Bucky. He’d been in recovery a few days before he up and vanished. Trying not to get overwhelmed by her memories, she began to move, walking out and glancing over room numbers. 

The last time she’d been in a hospital was not fun for her. In her career, she’d obtained minimal injuries, usually only needing a checkup with the team’s physician. But around seven years previous, she’d gotten shot during a case. And it had hit her hard. Not physically, she was prepared for that. But it had been a six year old boy, molested and killed by his uncle. Bucky had been gone for years at that point, but she remembers being curled up in the fetal position in her hospital room, shoulder straining from her stitches. All that she could think about was how much she needed him. To see him, to talk to him. Drea called that night. She remembered every word she’d left in his voicemail. 

“I lost a kid.” Drea whimpered in the phone. “It didn’t really hit me until the funeral, but it was my fault. I dismissed a suspect too early and it was my fault.” she tried to gulp, but her throat was thick and it hurt to swallow as she cried. “The casket was so small, the grave was so little. I killed that little boy. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” she remembered crying for another long moment before hanging up. 

He never called her back.

“What’s on your mind?” Steve could read her like a book, and Drea pressed her lips into a thin line. 

“Matthew Clark.” she cleared her throat, glancing at one of the dedication plaques.

“I remember him.” his expression darkened for a moment before he sighed. Drea was almost taken aback by the weariness that fell over his face. “I wish I didn’t have to remember them all, but I do.” 

“I don’t think I could forgive myself if I forgot.” Drea gave a hollow chuckle. “That was the last time I was in the hospital. Not a great memory.” Steve nodded, glancing up as a voice spoke over the intercom. He led her down the hallways as she stared at the floor.

“Jake’s down there.” Steve nudged her though the long, daunting hallway. He was near the end, sitting on a chair, a white bandage on his head. He was sitting stiff, completely upright, and when he saw them approach he stood.

“They said she would be out of surgery soon.” was the first thing he said. 

“But you’re okay, right?” Drea was worried. 

“Huh? Oh, uh, yeah I’m fine.” he cleared his throat. “I just…” Jake hesitated, twisting his fingers with a nervous glance at the empty room that would be Sharon’s. “I’ve been through something like this before.” he sighed.

“What happened?” Steve’s forehead wrinkled as he looked down at the younger man. 

“My mom… Erin, when I was younger, she passed away.” Jake cleared his throat, averting his eyes from his superiors. “We spent a lot of time in the hospital before it happened, so…”

“Oh, Jake… I’m sorry.” Drea felt sympathetic for the kid. “Was it a similar situation?”

“N-not really… She had cancer.” she tried not to wince at the information. 

“We’re always here if you need someone to talk to.” Steve reassured him, and Jake nodded. 

“Y-yeah, of course.” he chewed on his thumbnail. Steve got a strange look in his eye, and Drea frowned at him. He gave a barely discernible shake of his head, meaning she should drop it. Drea wanted to ask more, but for now she could wait.


	4. Chapter Four

“How is she?” Natasha asked Drea as soon as she came back into the office. She sighed, shrugging her jacket off and tossing it over the chair in her office. 

“She’s stable, for now. We didn’t get to talk to her, she was shot in the stomach, didn’t hit anything vital, but when she fell she went headfirst down the porch stairs. They’re keeping her under for the next forty-eight hours to keep the swelling in check.” Drea just about collapsed into her chair, the past few days taking a toll on her. 

“Did you tell them she may have witnessed something imperative to an ongoing federal investigation that could determine whether you live or die?” Natasha chewed on her lip.

“Yes, and they told me that unless they keep her in a medically induced coma, her brain could swell up so much that it could bust through the crack in her skull and kill her.” she snapped back. Natasha was quiet, and Drea dropped her forehead down onto her desk with a groan. “I’m sorry. It’s been a long day.”

“You’re tellin’ me.” Bucky’s smooth drawl came from the doorway. Drea lifted her head, feeling bleary and weary. “We went and checked out those two kids with the cop parents.”

“And? Anything viable?” she drew her eyebrows up, raking her hand through her hair. 

“Nothing. Neither of them had taken classes with all of the victims, airtight alibis for almost all the murders, and they just didn’t fit the profile. It was a good shot, but we’re at another dead end.” Bucky scuffed his boot against the floor. 

“Fuck.” Drea swore. “What now?”

“Dee. It’s almost eight.” Steve rapped on the door, interrupting them. “We have no suspects, no leads, our technical analyst is out of commission, and everyone is beat.” he sighed. “Let’s head home for the night.” he held up the bag Sharon and Jake had packed up before the attack had occurred.

“Steve’s right.” Natasha shook her hair out of her face, her hands stern on her hips. “None of us are gonna be any help staying up for days on end. Meet back here right away in the morning with fresh perspectives.” 

“I’m calling in the original detective on the case. We’ll get the full force to start canvassing tomorrow.” Steve pulled out his cell. 

“Who’s the original?” Bucky asked.

“Scott Lang.” Natasha supplied, and Bucky rolled his eyes.

“Jesus Christ. Of course it is.” he turned to walk out the door. “Glad we’re getting the full force of idiots on board.” he replied sarcastically as he left. 

“What was that all about?” Natasha asked.

“He’s still sore about Lang. They were in the police academy together. Didn’t get along.” Drea explained. Steve rolled his eyes as the person on the other line picked up. He had a short conversation, and he was rubbing his finger and thumb against the bridge of his nose before he hung up. Drea could tell he’d had a long day. 

“We’ll meet him at the precinct at ten tomorrow morning.” Steve sighed, shoving his phone into his pocket. “For now, let’s just get back to my place. I’m thinking we pick up some Number One on the way there, my turn to call or yours?” 

“I’ll call. Your usual? You’re not on that diet again, right?” Drea pulled her phone out of her pocket and picked up the case file, dropping it into the open briefcase on her desk. 

“God, no. Even if I was, today is worth a cheat day. And when have I ever ordered anything else?” she smiled tiredly, going through her contacts to find their go-to Chinese place’s number. She placed the order quietly as she followed Steve to the elevator, and they stood in silence as they waited. Natasha bid them goodnight, taking the stairs instead. 

“Do you have beer at your place?” Drea broke the silence as they shuffled through the parking lot. Steve let out a sharp laugh, shaking his head.

“Of course.” he scoffed, unlocking his suburban and letting her get in. 

“Thank god for small miracles.” Drea climbed into the passenger’s seat, nearly collapsing into the familiar leather seat. She felt the day begin to weigh on her, and an ache was forming between her eyes. “I need a goddamn drink.” 

“You ok?” Steve asked, pulling out onto the street. 

“I’m as good as I can get. Is it an option to wake up and have this all be a nightmare?” Drea groaned, and Steve let out a sharp laugh. 

“Don’t you ask that on every case?”

“Well it would be nice to wake up and find out the world isn’t as awful as I think.” she explained. 

“Yeah,” he sighed. “If only.”  
_____________________

“Oh shut up!” Drea laughed, kicking her now bare foot into her best friend’s ass as he did a frankly terrible impression of her ex-boyfriend. “He did not walk like that!”

“He most certainly did! How did you not see it, he was the most obnoxious person I’ve ever seen!” he burst into a fit of laughter as he flopped into the recliner across from her. 

“Okay I’ll give you that, he was a little bit obnoxious.” she agreed, taking another large swig from her beer. 

“Can’t believe you dated him for so long. He was terrible.” he shook his head, gathering up the empty takeout containers. One of the chopsticks fell on the floor and rolled underneath the couch, and Drea crawled on the floor to get it. Once everything was in the trash in the kitchen, they settled back into their seats in the living room. The lone growl of a motorcycle passed by outside, and she sighed. 

“Even if he sucked, it sucked even more being alone.” she admitted. Steve closed his eyes for a moment. 

“I understand that all too well.” he raised his beer. 

“To being alone together.” Drea clinked her bottle against his, and they laughed before drinking again. 

“Sometimes I miss coming home to someone being there, but then other times I think it’s better this way. I don’t have anyone worrying about me.” he confessed. 

“Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone worry about you, though?” she cocked her head to the side. “Always someone waiting for your call, thinking about you…” she trailed off.

“Gross. Stop being such a sap.” he laughed again, making a face. 

“Well, it’s true! I-” before she could finish her thought the door burst open. The pair jumped, turning towards the door in shock as Bucky stormed in, his arm raised with his thumb and forefinger mimicking the shape of a pistol.

“Bam. Bam. You’re both dead.” he pointed at each of them in quick succession before dropping his “weapon”. “What the hell is wrong with you two! You guys stupid or something? The front door is unlocked, the blinds are open, I waved from outside but the lights in here are so bright you can’t see anything! It’s like you’re asking to be killed!” he looked, frankly, furious, and in Drea’s tipsy state she couldn’t help but think he looked pretty hot. 

“Well hello to you too, buddy.” Steve burst into laughter, the shock disappearing at the insanity of the situation. 

“Are you two drunk?” he stormed over, picking up one of the empty bottles that had been discarded on the coffee table. 

“Relax, Buck.” Steve waved his friend’s disapproval away. “We’re off the clock.”

“Have you forgotten that there’s a creep out there with a personal vendetta against Andrea?”

“Oh, the legal name is coming out!” Drea crowed, taking another swig. “Pull the stick out of your ass, Barnes, it’s been a long day.” she scolded him. “I’ve walked in on you doing far worse than having a beer with a buddy after work.” his mouth opened and closed as she stared him down, daring him to say anything. 

“You two are idiots.” he grumbled, collapsing into the corner of the couch Drea was sprawled on. Weariness melted away his incredulous expression, and he raked a gloved hand down his face. When he noticed the leather, he began to tug it off, hesitating with a glance over to Drea. She didn’t say anything, and he slowly pulled the gloves the rest of the way off, tossing them onto the coffee table. A silver metallic hand gleamed in the light as he flexed his fingers, and her mouth went dry. Believing he had a prosthetic was much different than actually seeing it, and her heart leapt into her throat at the pain she knew had come with it. But that was none of her business.

He was the one who left her, right?

“What brings you to my neck of the woods?” Steve raised an eyebrow before draining the last of his beer. 

“Couldn’t sleep, I wanted to take a ride and see if you were still up. Imagine my surprise to find the two of you guffawing like hooligans in the living room well on the way to midnight.” he grumbled. “What are you still doing awake, anyways?”

“Well, I was, well…” Steve began to snicker again at the memory of what they were doing before Bucky showed up. “Well, see, Drea’s ex was really terrible, so I was… okay well to get this… never mind. You had to be there.” he finally shook his head, and Drea snorted as she tried to hold back her laughter. Bucky eyed the pair darkly before sighing again. “Anyways, my house is a work-free zone, so if you wanted to talk about the case we’ll have to step outside.”

“I’m not here to talk about the case. I was hoping to get a break from it, honestly.” 

“You’ve only been on it a day, Barnes. Join the club.” Drea rolled her eyes. 

“Work free zone!” Steve warned her. She held up her palms in surrender before curling her bare legs beneath her. She was just wearing some pajama shorts and an old, ratty hoodie that had definitely belonged to Steve at one point, but he never asked for it back and she had stained it so much she was sure he wouldn’t want it back anyways. But she felt nervous now, Bucky had only seen her in her nice work clothes, put together and on the case. Now, after ten years, he was seeing that small, plain girl again that she so desperately tried to hide. 

“How have you been, buddy, it’s been a while since I’ve been up here.” Bucky gazed earnestly at Steve, and Drea realized that in the year since his divorce Steve had never mentioned getting a visit from his best friend. Steve shrugged, setting his empty bottle on the table with a solid clunk. 

“Just going through the motions, I guess.” he admitted, and Drea’s eyes softened at his words. “Peg and I still talk, but it gets awkward sometimes.”

“More awkward than you and Sharon?” Drea teased, and Steve’s look of betrayal meant that he hadn’t told Bucky. Oops. 

“Well now, what happened with you and Sharon?” Bucky’s eyes glittered with mirth. 

“I’m not gonna talk about her while she’s in a medically induced coma!” Steve hissed, and she rolled her eyes.

“She will be awake in forty eight hours with a non-lethal gunshot wound and a slight concussion. You and Sharon kissed in a bar after you got drunk the night you and Peggy signed the divorce papers and then you found out a week later when she got brought onto the team that she was Sharon Carter, Peggy’s hot niece that you’d conveniently never met because she worked in interpol for the past eight years and she’d been living in London.” Drea proudly told the one embarrassing story Steve had, and Bucky burst into laughter. It almost startled her, how familiar it sounded, but it was comforting at the same time. Even though so many things about him changed, that one hadn’t. 

“Oh shit, Steve, of course you did. Sly dog, was it good?” Bucky teased.

“It was just a kiss!” he exclaimed, face beet red.

“That’s not answering the question!” Drea grinned, leaning towards him.

“It’s not fair when the two of you gang up on me like that!” Steve sputtered, pinching the bridge of his nose as Drea fell into peals of laughter. 

“Come on, tell us! Was it good? Did you think about her all the time until you found out who she was?” Bucky coaxed, and Steve jumped to his feet.

“You know what, thats-I-no!” He was beet red from the top of his chest to the tips of his ears, and he practically ran from the living room into his bedroom. 

“Aw, he can dish it but he can’t take it.” Drea chuckled. 

“Some things never change.” he shook his head with a smile, glancing over to her. Once he realized it was just the two of them, he seemed to sober, straightening in his seat. All of a sudden it came rushing back to Drea that she and Bucky were sitting together on Steve’s couch. Alone. 

“Right.” her statement sounded far off, and she curled her legs up to her chest, trying to swallow even though her mouth was bone dry. 

“How have you been?” Bucky blurted out, sneaking a glance at her from the corner of his eye. 

“Um… fine.” she didn’t know what else to say. This felt awkward. She cleared her throat, reaching for her beer again. The tension felt way too thick between them, the air laid heavy on her skin. Goosebumps popped up all over her body, and she had to hold back a shiver. She was so nervous her palms felt clammy, and she tightened her grip on the bottle. 

“Good, that’s… good.” he nodded, scratching at the stubble that lined his jaw. She tried not to look at him, but ignoring him felt worse. “I’ve been good, too, I guess.” he mentioned with a sigh. 

“You guess?” she asked before she could stop herself. 

“Well, yeah, I mean in this line of work it’s easy to not be good.” he shrugged, glancing over to her with half a grimace on his lips. 

“Understandable.” she sighed, tilting her head back as she brought her drink to her lips. A few more beats of silence before she couldn’t take the pressure anymore. “Why did you do it?” she blurted, not looking at him as she curled further into herself. 

“I’m sorry?” he spoke after a second, confusion clear in his tone. 

“Don’t play dumb.” she scoffed, turning to face him. “Why did you leave like that?” his blue eyes were wide, startled at her intensity. His mouth opened and closed a few times, clearly searching for words. “Is it because you blamed me?” she bit her lip, and his eyes darted back to her, shock apparent in his expression. 

“Blame you for what?” He looked genuinely confused. 

“I was the one who made us split up, if we’d gone in together they wouldn’t have-” he cut off her rambling. 

“What? No, no I don’t- that wasn’t your fault. I don’t blame you, for anything.” he shook his head, raking his prosthetic fingers through his hair.

“Then why?” she demanded, straightening her spine. All these years, she’d only had her imagination to tell her why he’d left, and she was finally going to get her answers. 

“I was… it wasn’t because of you. Not really, I guess. It was because… when I was in there, they constantly, constantly talked about what they would do if it was you in there instead of me.” he admitted. “I couldn’t take the thoughts, what they said was… you being in there instead of me was my worst nightmare. And that scared me, that I would rather die than let you get put in that position.” Bucky scoffed, staring off into the distance just to the left of her head. She stared at him, eyes wide. “I couldn’t stay and hover and think about all the horrible things that could happen to you. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep, and when I was in the hospital you were right there, smiling and trying to tell me everything was going to be okay. But it wouldn’t be, not if the roles were reversed.” 

“So you just… left?” she swallowed, trying to grip onto the thoughts whirling around in her head. 

“I’m sorry.” he actually sounded remorseful. “Every time I looked at you I couldn’t help but think about what could have happened to you. I couldn’t handle it. I’d gotten a call a few weeks before about a position opening up in the sex crimes unit. I’d originally said no, but I called them back and told them I had changed my mind.” he admitted. “And then I left.” 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Drea demanded, heat flaring through her blood. She felt angry.

“I couldn’t.” Bucky sighed. “If I would have come up to you and told you I was going to leave, you would have tried to stop me.” she scoffed. 

“Don’t flatter yourself.” she jumped to her feet, clenching her fists. “If you would have just told me you wanted to take a position at Quantico-”

“I didn’t want to, that’s the thing.” he got to his feet as well, taking a step closer to her. “Even if you would have so much as looked at me like you were gonna miss me, I wouldn’t have been able to leave you.” he confessed, blue eyes darting over her face to gauge her reaction. She didn’t know what to say at that. “I had to go without saying anything because losing you was my worst fear.” he sighed, and her fists unfurled, hanging limp at her side. “I left because choosing to see you were fine without me was easier than having to live with the constant fear that I couldn’t protect you.” 

“You don’t have to protect me.” she responded lamely, unsure of how to respond. 

“Really, now, I don’t have to? Because you called me in on this case that just so happens to be my worst nightmare come to life.” he laughed bitterly, digging his fingers into his jaw in frustration. “I’ve been lying awake for hours, just waiting for a call that this was it, that they’d gotten to you and we were too late.”

“That isn’t going to happen!” she protested, crossing her arms across her chest with an indignant huff. “For god’s sake, you haven’t spoken to me for years, you could at least have a little faith in who I’ve become.” he winced, shoulders drooping. “It’s not like you really have the right to care in the first place. You could have just stayed away and continued your ghost story schtick. Even if I’m the only one you turned radio silent on, I wasn’t the only one hurt when you left. You left all of us, Bucky. We were a family. We all lost so many times, and you weren’t there.” she could taste the venom dripping from her words, and she gave him a withering glare, just daring him to argue with her. 

“I deserve that.” he replied after a long, tense silence. “I deserve all the hate you have for me. You’re right. I shouldn’t have come back.”

“You should never have left in the first place.” she spat before her body drooped a bit. She hung her head, staring at her feet. “Besides, I don’t hate you. It would be easier if I did, but I don’t.” she shook her head.

“Drea,” he took half a step closer to her, until she could feel the body heat emanating from him. She hadn’t realized how much bigger he’d gotten until that very moment. He was broad, strong, the very picture of tall, dark, and handsome. Her breath hitched in her throat and she had to physically stop herself from leaning into his warmth. Why couldn’t she hate him? “I… you’re right. I shouldn’t have left.” she took in another stuttering breath as his hand came to rest on her cheek, tilting her face up towards him so she was forced to stare into those deep blue eyes. Her body was frozen, she couldn’t do anything but look at him. Drea was trapped in his gaze. “All of it, it’s on me. I shouldn’t have ignored your calls, I should never have thought things would be better the way they turned out. Looking back at it now, that was the worst mistake I ever made. But I can’t take it back. I wish I could, but what’s done is done.” she tried not to gasp as his hand slipped from her cheek down to the nape of her neck, the heat from his hand was much too inviting as he pulled her closer. “Do you think we could… start over?” she barely felt herself nod as the distance between them disappeared, her eyelids fluttering shut as his lips slanted over hers. There was a second of awkward nose bumping before something just clicked and they pressed together, moving completely in sync. Her toes curled against the hardwood floor while her hands drifted up to the shoulders of his leather jacket, clenching and probably creasing the fabric. He smelled so good, like a warm summer night and something spicy and familiar, but he tasted even better, fresh yet sweet. His tongue swept between her lips, and she melted again, letting his arms wrap around her waist to hold her upright against his warm, solid frame. Absent-mindedly she wished she’d put on some lip balm before this, hoping her lips weren’t chapped, but then his hand slid up her back and all rational thought left her once more. She kissed him until she had to wrench away for air, sucking in gasps as he pressed his forehead against hers. They panted together, and she let her palms flatten over his chest, feeling his rapid heartbeat that was beating just as hard as hers. Wow. That was… wow. 

“Uh,” she wanted to say something but words escaped her at the moment. So many thoughts were running through her mind, but her limbs felt loose and limp, content to just be resting against him. “I…” she pulled just enough away from him to get her head clear, staring up at him again. He looked flushed and mussed, and she was sure she looked the same. “I was in love with you.” she blurted, then groaned, squeezing her eyes shut. “Not now! Before you left.” she wasn’t sure that distinction made anything better.

“I know.” his arms pulled her closer again, wrapping her up into a hug, and she felt herself sag against him. “I was too.” she felt her breath whoosh from her chest, halfway between relieved and disappointed. So much time had been lost for them. Where would they be now if he had stayed? No, now wasn’t the time for what ifs. They held each other for what felt like hours, standing in the middle of Steve’s living room. He was the first to untangle himself from the embrace, giving her half a smile as she tucked her hands into the pockets of her hoodie.

“Um…” once again she had no idea what to say. 

“This is a fresh start. But…” he hesitated, glancing out the window towards the street with a frown. “You’ve been drinking, and we’re in the middle of investigating a serial killer. I want to talk about… this, us, after we finish up the case.” his blue eyes felt electric on hers. 

“No pressure.” she laughed quietly. 

“None at all.” he leaned forward to press another chaste kiss against her lips. She tried, and failed, to not lean closer to him again. “I’ll see you in the morning?” he took a large, abrupt step back, a sheepish grin on his face. His lips were deliciously pink and swollen, and she felt a flutter of excitement rush from her toes up to her chest. He looked pretty cute, nothing like the smooth, suave man that had stolen her heart a decade ago. 

“Ten A.M. at the precinct.” she gave a mock salute, and he rolled his eyes, his blissed-out expression crumbling with annoyance. 

“Can’t wait to catch up with Lang.” he scoffed. 

“You’ll be fine.” Drea laughed. He huffed, leaning down to grab his gloves off the coffee table.

“I’ll survive.” he grimaced, taking another half step backwards to the door. “Goodnight, Drea.” that little half smirk was back, and he lingered, waiting for her response with gleaming blue eyes.

“Sweet dreams.” she bit her lip and waved as he backed into the door, opening it while still facing her. He didn’t break eye contact until he’d stepped out onto the porch and shut the door. 

“Lock the door, please!” he called, muffled through the wood, and she held back a laugh as she strode up, twisting the deadbolt with a solid thunk. “Thank you!” was his response, and she shook her head. Drea could hardly believe how easy it was to fall back into an easy conversation with the man. Well, when he looked like, that, felt like that, and kissed like that… it wasn’t exactly hard. She closed all the blinds in the living room, picking up empty bottles and quietly tossing them in the bin as she let her mind wander. What did this change? So much, and yet not enough. It wasn’t like he was back, he still lived hours away in a different state. He’d still hurt her, but it had been ten years since she’d gotten her heart broken. She felt like there had been ample time to get over it and move on. And yet… she wasn’t over him, not by a longshot. Those old feelings had flared back to life, and there was no putting those flames out now. She sighed, flicking the lights off and heading to the guestroom. Drea had to stop overthinking things now, before she was up all night like a teenager who’d just kissed her crush. She was an adult, dammit, it was time to act like it.


	5. Chapter Five

“Hey guys, how is it going? Wow, Agent Rogers, it’s been so long since I saw you, you were on the news a few days ago, it was pretty awesome. And Dr. Dean, I saw your book at Barnes and Noble the other day, it was so cool, your picture was up there and everything!” Scott Lang was energetic as ever as Drea and Steve approached his desk. 

“Lang, good to see you.” she shot him a tired smile. After Steve had cornered her at six in the morning (apparently he’d seen part of the makeout session in his living room) and grilled her all morning, she could barely handle the small talk Scott was known for. 

“Have you guys got any lead as to what this guy is after yet?” he gave a wide smile to the pair, and Steve grimaced. 

“Uh, yeah, unfortunately it appears than our unsub has an obsession with Dr. Dean and all of his victims so far have been him practicing for the real thing with her.” Steve was blunt as always. Scott’s eyes widened, mouth dropping open.

“Oh. Well, that’s… not good.” his gaze darted between Drea and Steve, and she sighed, turning towards the elevator as it dinged. Nobody else from their team had arrived yet.

“Not really, no. Anyways, we’ve been stumped and Steve and I were hoping we could have the original officers going over the newest version of the profile to see if there’s anyone you guys think could fit. Can we set up in the back?” without Sharon, who usually handled the liaison work, Steve and Drea were a bit behind. 

“Of course! I’ll let Hope know that you guys are here, she can round up some of the detectives on the original case and send them your way. It should just be me, Hope, Luis and Paxton.” he scurried off, somehow always finding the energy to smile.

“We should have stopped for coffee on the way.” Drea groaned, lugging her box of files over to the table in the back of the room. 

“Dr. Dean!” as if on cue, Jake came rushing out of the elevator with a cardboard tray of coffee. She sighed in relief, and Steve’s gaze narrowed imperceptibly before he shook his head. 

“Jake, you’re a lifesaver, you know that?” she beamed as he handed her a cup. “Thank you.” she took a sip before flipping through papers, pinning up her notes and crime scene photos to prepare to give the profile that had already changed drastically from the previous morning. She ignored the way Steve hovered over her shoulder, holding his coffee in a tight grip without taking a sip. 

“Head’s up, Bucky’s coming in and he’s on a collision course with Lang.” Steve whispered, and Drea glanced over her shoulder just in time to see Bucky scowl at Scott, who was grinning like they were old pals. 

“Barnes needs to get over it.” she shook her head with a laugh, shooting another glance at Bucky with a twinkle in her eye. Jake stood dutifully next to her, holding tacks and papers for her to use when she needed. Scott and Bucky had begun an argument somewhere at the beginning of their journey to the back of the room, and the bickering got louder as they got closer. 

“Look, I really am sorry about what happened, Buck, but I honestly thought you’d be over it by now!” Scott sighed, and Drea could practically hear Bucky’s teeth clench. 

“I don’t have to accept your apologies, Lang, I don’t want to hear it. I’m not here to be all buddy buddy with you, I’m here for the case.” Drea peeked over her shoulder with a grin to see the scowl on his face. Jake frowned as he watched them, glancing between the bickering pair and Drea with confusion. 

“What happened to them?” Jake whispered, leaning in so that the pair in question couldn’t hear him. 

“Lang pantsed Barnes during a practice drill.” she tried to hold back a laugh as she spilled the frankly hilarious instance that had caused over a decade of bad blood between the men. “Bucky didn’t take it well. Still sore about it.” she coughed to hide the chuckle that escaped. She could see Bucky shoot her a look, but he didn’t actually look mad, not if the twinkling eyes and half-smirk showed anything but humor. 

“You a-and Agent Barnes made up, t-then?” Jake swallowed audibly after he asked his question, and Drea traced her finger down the seam of a paper she’d just tacked up.

“You could say that.” she fought to stop herself from sneaking another peek at him. She tacked a few more pieces of paper up before Scott and Bucky stopped bickering. The latter had casually approached her and Jake, glancing over the papers she was working on displaying before glancing over her. His eyebrows raised as he let himself really look at her for the first time that day.

“What are you wearing?” a drastic change from the last time he’d seen her, it was a charcoal grey pinstripe pantsuit with a violet blouse beneath the blazer. 

“Uh, clothes?” she frowned down at the suit. “Sharon picked out what she and Jake packed for me, it’s only enough for a few days.” Drea shrugged, going back to what she was doing with heat burning the tips of her ears. 

“Woah, that’s kind of crazy, I just noticed that it’s the exact outfit you wore in the picture in your book!” Scott added. She frowned, thinking back to the photo her publisher used, and she realized that she had worn this in the picture they took.

“Huh, guess you’re right. This was in the back of my closet, Sharon must have some opinions about what I usually wear.” she laughed, turning around once she’d finished pinning the information on the board. “Where are we at with all of the original detectives? I’m ready to give the profile, or at least as much of it as we have. There have been a lot of changes in the past 48 hours, and there’s bound to be more as we continue to get information.” Steve glanced over her outfit with a frown before looking to Scott and waiting for his response. 

“Hope is rounding everyone up, they’ll be here in a minute.” Scott explained, dropping into a seat at the meeting table. Bucky moved three seats away before taking his own seat, glancing up at Drea and giving her a quick wink. If she would have blinked she’d have missed it, but she rolled her eyes anyways. There was a little bit of the old Barnes charm that she’d been used to so many years ago. 

“Natasha isn’t here yet.” Jake pointed out, and Steve nodded. 

“We have her back at the main office taking Sharon’s place until later this afternoon when Tony can come in. We’ll get her on video in just a minute.” Steve gestured to the open laptop on the table. 

“Apparently he’s a little upset about having to cut his time in Malibu short.” Drea crossed her arms with a huff. “As if retirement is so hard. I think I need a vacation.” she tapped her foot, and Steve sighed.

“After this case, you’re getting two weeks off. Paid.” he grimaced, shaking his head.

“Well, maybe I’ll see if Tony has a guestroom in Malibu.” she joked, straightening once the rest of the group arrived. “Good morning, everyone.” she greeted the newcomers, waiting for them to be seated before she spoke again. “So, let’s get right into it. Our unsub is a white male, mid to late twenties.”  
_________________

“He’s so pissed.” Steve commented as he and Drea headed towards his car. She stifled a laugh as she climbed into the passenger seat, clicking her seatbelt before he even made it into the car.

“Hey, he can survive staying put for a few hours.” she acted nonchalant, pulling her phone out of her pocket to read a message from Jake. 

“With Lang? One or both of them will be dead within the hour.” he scoffed, turning the key in the ignition. “Who’s that?” he glanced down at her phone as she tapped out a reply. 

“Jake. He’s staying put and manning the phones, but he wanted to know if he should route new info through us or Nat. I’m telling him to get it to her first and then she can let us know if she finds anything.” she tucked her phone back into her pocket once she’d finished sending the text. 

“Isn’t it usually always sent to Sharon anyways?” he asked.

“It’s a different situation, I guess. I’m glad he asked, though, I’d rather not get our wires crossed when everything is already so confusing.” she sighed, resting her head against the window. 

“Didn’t get enough sleep last night?” she could hear the smirk in Steve’s tone. 

“Oh shut up, you were up just as late as I was.” she scowled, trying not to let her face get red. 

“Uh huh, but I wasn’t making out with my best friend until the wee hours of the night.” 

“You’re the one who left us alone out there!” she huffed, crossing her arms. 

“Well I never expected that to happen! I can’t believe the two of you decided to not talk about it until after the case, what kind of bull is that?” he scoffed as he wove through the busy streets back to the office.

“Well we’re in the middle of an investigation together, I’d rather not let us get distracted by that.” she reiterated, and Steve shook his head.

“Well? What do you want to happen?” he asked, and she paused, not sure how to respond. 

“We’ll never be able to just pick up where we left off. He asked if we could start over, so I’m hoping we can get to know each other again.” she admitted, chewing on her bottom lip. “I know I’ve changed, and there’s no telling how much he’s changed too. Who knows, maybe we’ll realize that the people we’ve become don’t belong together.” she shrugged.

“And you would be fine with that?” he turned to face her at a stoplight, face open and curious. Steve was a man she trusted with her life, he was her closest friend that she would be able to tell anything to. 

“Not really. But I’ve lived this long without him, so if things end up not working out, the world’s gonna keep turning after.” he nodded, facing the road again when the light turned green, satisfied with her answer. “It’s not like being in a relationship has ever been easy before this, so I’m preparing for the worst.” Drea sighed, stretching her legs out to stare at the tiny pinstripes on her slacks. “Besides, as Cher says, “a man is not a necessity”.” she hoped that would lighten the mood. She saw Steve crack a smile out of the corner of her eye. 

“Ouch, really aiming at a weak spot there.” he chuckled, and she shook her head. “Sorry, I know it was a joke. But you’re right, even if you love each other, sometimes… things are just too hard. Peg and I were in different worlds, I know that we still loved each other at the end, but it was like we didn’t even know each other anymore.” he shook his head with a sigh. “And you were always there for me, so whatever happens I promise I’ll still be there for you.”

“I wouldn’t say I was there for you, I think my couch and my wallet were.” she smirked, and he reached out to flick her on the shoulder. 

“It is not my fault that you would bribe me to stop crying with food.” he responded sternly, but she could see the twinkle in his eye. 

“Yeah, yeah.” a smile still played on the edges of her lips. “So what is first on the agenda today?” 

“I guess we’ll start off with paperwork.” he sighed. 

Three hours later, and a whole stack of bureaucratic bullshit later, Drea was half out of her mind. They still had no leads, Natasha was flat out stuck, and Steve was acting weird. He kept going back to the profile with a stupid concerned frown on his face, but he wasn’t saying anything even though he kept looking at her with that stupid puppy dog look. 

“What is it!” she exclaimed after the fiftieth time. 

“Huh?” he blinked, sitting up straight and adjusting his tie, pulling it away from his neck. 

“What are you thinking? You keep staring at me!” she groaned, snatching the manila folder from his hand. He furrowed his eyebrows again.

“I am?” 

“Don’t play dumb, Rogers.” she warned, and he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“I just keep reading it back over, and there’s something… there’s something there, it’s on the tip of my tongue but I’m just not getting it.” he sounded more frustrated than usual, and he’d raked his hand through his hair so many times it had split down the middle. 

“What’s bugging you?” 

“It’s too familiar, too, too…” he groaned, closing his eyes with a huff. “I just need a second.” 

“Take your time, buddy.” she smirked with a shake of her head, scanning over the page herself, even though she’d memorized the information at this point. 

“He wants you to see him.” he rubbed the bridge of his nose as he spoke slowly and carefully. “He’s obsessed with you, he-” Steve groaned again, letting his forehead hit the table. “There’s no way we haven’t come across him yet.”

“I’ll have Natasha grab the list of men who fit the description that either work in the building or go to the university.” Drea stood, knocking her fist against the table next to his head. She hesitated when he didn’t move, setting her palm on his shoulder and squeezing it, hopefully giving him a little bit of comfort. “We’re going to figure it out eventually. He’s not gonna hide forever.” he nodded, sitting back up and leaning all the way back in his chair. She made a beeline for where Natasha was sitting in the horrible, dim, stuffy office with absolutely no natural light and the blaringly obnoxious computer screens. She didn’t know how Sharon could stand to sit in there every day. 

“Yes?” she asked before Drea even had time to say anything, the redhead hadn’t even turned. 

“Steve’s convinced he knows the guy, any way we can get a list of people here and at the university that match the description our eyewitness gave us yesterday?” Drea asked, leaning against the desk next to her. Nat’s fingers flew across the keyboard, and with a few mouse clicks she had a program pulling profiles. 

“Only if you get me a donut from the break room.” she smirked, still not even glancing up. 

“Anything for you, sweet cheeks.” she grinned at her, heading out of the room to fulfill her request while they waited. She hummed, pouring herself another cup of coffee while she was at it. Once she got back to Natasha, she was just getting off the phone. 

“I’ll take this, and this.” she snatched both the donut and the mug from Drea’s hands, and she made an indignant huff.

“The coffee was mine!” she protested, and Nat rolled her eyes. 

“Well, your little intern just called me with some new information. Apparently another potential witness came forward about one of the earlier murders, another neighbor to a victim. You’re gonna go pick him up and take him for questioning.” she gave a lopsided smirk before sipping from the mug. 

“I get to leave the building? Incredible.” she laughed, sick and tired of sitting in the meeting room. “Just Jake and I?” she clarified, and Natasha nodded again.

“Yep, I’ll let Steve know if you want to head out now.” she turned back towards the computer as it beeped at her, letting out an irritated sigh. “Let me know if you find anything good.” she mumbled before she began to type again. Drea headed for her office, grabbing her coat and keys before going back towards the elevator bank. Thank god they were finally getting more information, the lack of anything useful coming from witnesses was absolutely mind boggling. She felt guilty for not stopping by Steve to say goodbye before she left, but she knew deep down if she mentioned going out to question a witness he’d want to tag along. But, she knew he was exhausted, and that whatever she’d learn he would find out immediately. Her car wasn’t as cool as Natasha’s or as roomy as Steve’s, but she almost preferred the comfortable leather seats of her beat up Cadillac Eldorado. Sure it was old, and the mileage wasn’t great, but she didn’t necessarily ever use her car for work (like arrests, Steve or Nat usually handled those) and she certainly didn’t want a large, obtrusive, flashy thing that was obviously a government issued vehicle. She didn’t turn on any music for her drive, just letting her thoughts go silent for the drive. Obviously, over-analyzing every piece of information she had was not working out well for her. She drummed her fingers on the wheel as she wove through traffic, wondering if there would even be any good information taken from this new witness. She pulled up outside of the precinct, letting the car idle as she picked up her cellphone to call Jake and have him come down into the car, but surprisingly he knocked on her window instead, already outside. She scrambled to unlock the doors and he dropped into the passenger side seat, buckling his seatbelt and letting his bag rest on his lap. 

“That was quick, I was just about to call you.” she frowned, and he chuckled. 

“Yeah, Natasha let me know when you’d left so I-I just decided to wait down by the front door. I wasn’t doing a whole lot in there anyways, Bucky and Scott were handling everything.” he gave a strained smile. “Here, put this address in your GPS.” he showed her the slip of paper, and she opened up her phone and punched it in. “I got you another coffee, too.” she thanked him and took a sip of the cooling liquid. It tasted a little funny, but she figured it was just old. Once she got out into traffic she started some small talk. Jake wasn’t a huge talker, he was a bit socially awkward, but she believed him to have good intentions. 

“How have you been liking the internship so far?” she asked, and he twisted his fingers into the strap of his messenger bag.

“I’ve really enjoyed it if I’m being honest, I never really thought of working in a crime unit until I started reading your books. Th-that’s what really made me interested in this kinda stuff.” he admitted. She nodded with a smile.

“Well, it’s nice to hear my books are good for something. My publisher is already asking me if I plan on writing another.” she mentioned. 

“O-oh, that’s great if you want to. But you’re kinda busy a lot, so it’d be a while, right?”

“Maybe, but I’ve been thinking of taking some time off. I haven’t had a vacation in years, and some of this stuff is starting to take its toll on me. I’m not getting any younger.” she sighed. “There’s a lot that I want to do and see if I’m being honest, and I’m practically married to this job. I figure I could work out some sort of sabbatical system with Fury.” Drea shrugged, following the instructions the GPS was giving her. The house was a bit further than she’d anticipated, but traffic wasn’t being too difficult so she didn’t mind much. 

“Well, your w-work and research was what drew me to this type of stuff. I-I haven’t mentioned it before, not really, but I heard about your internship program a few years ago and I’ve been trying to get into it f-for this long, and now I’m f-finally here.” he smiled before turning to face his window.

“Oh, that’s great to hear, Jake. I’m really happy you’ve been successful, you’re a bright kid.” Drea was glad that she could do at least this much to help him out. The rest of the trip was nearly silent, save for the automated directions from her GPS. She noticed a few texts from Steve pop up, but she ignored them, figuring she could read what he wanted to say once she parked the car. They finally rolled up a gravel driveway to an older looking farmhouse, but there was no car in the open garage. 

“Are they even here?” she squinted as she put the car in park in front of the house. 

“We’re all here now.” Jake said. She turned to him, furrowing her eyebrows. “Once you and Steve brought in Bucky, you started to put things together a lot more quickly. He’s pretty good at his job.” she shook her head, taking a long sip of her coffee, finishing the now-cold drink.

“Yeah, Bucky’s been working in sex crimes for years now, he’s good at profiling that sort of thing.” she explained, still confused about why he brought it up at that moment. 

“You guys are closing in so fast. I can only do so much.” he shook his head.

“Well, you’re doing your best, Jake, that’s all we can ask of you.” she placed her hand on his shoulder, and he sighed. 

“I know. But I didn’t want to have to do this so soon, I thought I had more time.” he looked at her with remorse swimming in his eyes, and she pulled away, alarm bells blaring in her head. Her phone started buzzing on the dashboard and she glanced away from Jake for a second, seeing Steve’s contact photo blinking at her, waiting for her to pick up the call. Before she could look back at him, she began to feel lightheaded, and she had to rest her head against her seat. 

“Jake, what the-” her vision began to spin, and her phone continued to ring. “You-you’re-” she couldn’t get the words out.

“I know you better than you think, Drea. I put a Benadryl in your coffee, didn’t you always say it only took a few minutes before it knocked you out? It’s a bit of a shame, though, I wanted you to get to know me better before we got to this point. I love you, Drea.” Jake’s voice was sincere, crooning as he caressed the side of her face. She sluggishly pushed his hand away, and through her darkening vision she saw his smile fall into a scowl. 

“Why?” she gasped, feeling her eyelids flutter as her head got too heavy to support. She slumped into her seat with a low groan. 

“I wish this could be different.” he sighed. “But you left me no choice.”


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I struggled with whether I should post this with the current movements and protests going on, as this is a fanfiction about police officers and FBI agents, but I came to the conclusion that the types of officers I write about are NOT brutal towards minorities and they are not part of a corrupt system. I want to make it very clear that I SUPPORT THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT and that there NEEDS to be a change in the system. Please go out and protest, sign petitions, donate, and vote for a complete overhaul of the oppressive system that unfairly targets and brutalizes minorities.

Steve was completely over this case. He’d gone over the files a thousand times, and nothing new was jumping out at him. His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out, squinting down at the screen. It was Bucky, and he quickly answered. 

“Anything new?” he asked, leaning back in his chair.

“How thorough do you guys do background checks on interns?” Bucky’s question was almost demanding, and Steve sat up straight again.

“What, is this about Jake? We run a full check on each of them, and they have to apply through like five chains of command through NYU to get this internship.” he explained, scratching at his beard. 

“Well, are you aware that he has a record?” Steve frowned, jerking his head to glance for Drea to ask, but she wasn’t in the area. 

“What? If he had a record, he wouldn’t have gotten this internship. I looked into him myself.” Steve got up and walked to his office, reaching the file cabinet to find where he kept Jake’s paperwork. He grabbed the file and began flipping. “How do you know he has a record?” he asked as he looked. 

“Apparently, Lang remembers bringing him in a year or two ago.” Bucky’s tone was harsh, but Steve had finally found the papers he was looking for. 

“I’m looking at his file right now and I don’t see anything.” Steve sighed, exasperated. Lang remembered him? From what? “What did Lang say he brought him in on, and isn’t Jake there?” 

“No, he disappeared about a half an hour ago. Scott remembered probably just after he left, when I told him Jake’s name. He said the kid had assaulted a girl on campus.” Steve’s eyes widened, and he flipped through the file again. There’s no way he’d miss an assault, that was definitely something that they wouldn’t have let through.

“Well it isn’t in his file, is Scott sure it was him?” Steve heard Bucky repeat the question, and there was a quiet conversation for a few moments. 

“He found a sealed file in their database. Hang on.” Steve drummed his fingertips on the counter as he waited.

“He got it expunged, then?” Steve asked before Bucky could give any further explanation. 

“Seems like it. I’m looking at it now. He grabbed a girl on campus and…” Bucky swore under his breath.

“What?” Steve demanded, flipping the manila file closed as he stalked towards his office door, craning his neck to see if he could find where Drea had disappeared to. She needed to hear about this immediately. 

“Okay, he petitioned for the file to be sealed because it was a first offense and a judge granted it to him. Apparently, Lang brought him in after he grabbed a girl on campus and… sexually assaulted her and then choked her with her headphones.” Steve let out a whoosh of air, pressing the side of his head into the doorway. “The girl dropped the charges after a few months and he didn’t do any time.” 

“Fuck.” Steve scrubbed his hand over his face. “This… oh fuck.” things were starting to click into place in his head. “Violent, careful, organized, exploitative, someone you wouldn’t notice at first.” he rattled off, and Bucky sighed. 

“Exactly what I was thinking. Where is Drea? Let her know to keep away and that he’s out there somewhere. I’m going to put out an APB on him right away.” Bucky hung up, and Steve stuffed his phone back into his pocket before checking the break room. She wasn’t there, and she wasn’t in the bathroom either. He headed towards Natasha’s temporary office to see if she was in there.

“Hey, have you seen Drea?” Steve rapped on Natasha’s door. She held up a finger, telling him to wait as she finished clicking on the screen. After a moment she turned in her chair. 

“I got a call before from Jake, he has a new witness so I sent the two of them out to question them. Why, what’s up?” his blood turned to ice.

“You’ve got to be shitting me.” he pulled out his phone to text her. Do not go anywhere alone with Jake. “How long ago did she leave, did she say if she picked him up yet or not?” his heart was pounding. 

“Uh, she probably left half an hour ago, she must have gotten to him a few minutes ago. Why, did you need her for something?” she raised an eyebrow, confused about his reaction.

“Jake had a sealed record. Last year he assaulted a woman on campus and strangled her with the wires of her headphones. Bucky just called. It’s been him the whole time, he’s been here the whole time.” her eyes widened and she slapped her hand over her mouth. 

“Oh my god. Are you,” she cut herself off, and Steve could see the gears turning in her mind. “Oh god you’re right. Fuck. Okay, hang on one minute I’m going to try and, fuck, find her cell? I think I know how to do this, but can you please get Tony on the phone? Or anyone?” she turned in her seat and began clicking on different executions, obviously flustered but not familiar enough with the programs to find the right one. He dialed Tony on her headset and shot off another text. Drea if you’re reading this, Jake is the unsub, get out of there. After that, he immediately called Bucky back. 

“Yes?” Bucky sounded annoyed, and Steve couldn’t blame him.

“Jake and Drea are currently on their way to an unknown location, they’re both gone.” there was silence on the line, and Steve took that as an invitation to continue. “Nat’s getting a hold of Tony right now and we’re going to try and track her phone to see where they are.” it was still silent. “Buck?” 

“Of course.” he laughed dryly. “Of fucking course.” Steve heard a thump on Bucky’s end of the line and muffled speech before he talked again. “Let me know as soon as you find anything out, I’m letting everyone know to keep an eye out for her car.” he swore under his breath again before hanging up. Steve felt the panic rising in his throat but he pushed it down, taking in a few deep breaths to calm himself down. Freaking out was not going to help Drea out at all. Oh god, what the hell was he going to do? He stepped back into the room with Natasha, and she clicked a button on her headset again with a frustrated groan. 

“He’s not picking up.” she gave him a look of desperation. He gnawed on his bottom lip, pacing the small space.

“I wish we could talk to Sharon.” he groaned, then stopped. “Do you think…?” 

“Do I think Sharon realized something fishy was going on and got her head bashed in for it?” Natasha studied his face with a grim expression. “I wouldn’t doubt it.”

“What if we’re already too late?” Steve wiped his sweaty palms on his pants, and Natasha sighed.

“Don’t think like that. Call her, maybe he hasn’t made his move yet.” Steve nodded, grabbing his phone from his pocket and clicking on her contact. He waited and waited, but the call eventually went to voicemail. He tried three more times before dropping his phone on the desk, muttering a few swears. 

“Nothing.” he laughed humorlessly. “Fuck.” 

“I don’t know what to - Tony!” Natasha stood up and practically leapt towards the doorframe where Tony had somehow magically appeared. 

“Sit down right now.” Steve ordered, shoving him unceremoniously into the seat Nat had just vacated. 

“Excuse me, I’m offended by the way the two of you are tossing me around.” Tony swivelled in his seat with a scowl, and Natasha groaned. 

“We need you to track Drea’s phone. Now. I’ve been trying to reach you for the past twenty minutes.” Natasha practically growled, and Tony spun with a sigh, immediately letting his fingers fly over the familiar keyboard and getting a map up within a few minutes. 

“There, I’m triangulating her location now, it’ll take a minute. What’s going on?” he asked as the computer worked its magic. 

“Drea’s missing.” Steve replied with a curt tone, and Tony paused, eyes widening before he doubled down his efforts, clicking and typing faster than Steve could follow. 

“Well why the hell didn’t you lead with that? I’m aware of the situation, is it our unsub? He got to her?” Tony grimaced, searching for her phone’s signal all over the city.

“Jake is our unsub.” Natasha pursed her lips. 

“The squintern?” his eyebrows raised before he swore again. “And I’m assuming she didn’t know, and being the wonderful trusting woman she is, she probably went willingly as he kidnapped her.” 

“Yep.” Nat replied, and Tony leaned back. 

“Got her. See that old, gross house just outside the cemetery?” Tony pointed at his digital map, and Natasha sighed. 

“She’s there?” Steve clarified, and Tony gave a curt nod. 

“Looks like the address is listed to… an Erin Crenshaw.” Steve shut his eyes. 

“That’s his mother’s name.” he sighed. “If we didn’t have any evidence of it being him before, we do now.”

“Now, go, move, get out there and get her, do something! Don’t just stand here gawking! And put in a damn earpiece.” Tony practically shoved him towards the door, and Natasha began dialing on her phone. 

“I’ll let Barnes know.” she sighed, holding the phone up to her ear as the pair jogged out to Steve’s car. 

“How the hell did it end up like this?”   
…………………..

By the time Drea came to, she had made all of the connections in her mind of what Jake did. He applied for years to get the internship with her, managing to hide his obsession with her, albeit not very well now that she thought back. He was so nervous around her, which she’d always chalked up to admiration, but now she knew the truth. The profile seemed to cling to him, the loss of his mother, a fascination with law enforcement, issues with privacy. She felt so stupid. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to beat herself up over it, but so many people were dead because of her. Sharon was in the hospital because she must have figured Jake out before she did. All because she couldn’t see the signs, she was blinded by her want to help and to be a mentor. She should have seen it, she was a profiler, a forensic psychologist for god’s sake. Her stupidity had caused way too much destruction. 

“You woke up faster than I expected.” the voice she’d always thought of as meek startled her into opening her eyes. Her wrists were bound above her head, and she realized with a jolt that she was tied to a bed. She gave a yank, but her arms were tied to a very solid headboard. She glanced over to see him sitting in a chair, smiling down at her. She wanted to retch, but Drea tried to keep calm. Freaking out would only upset him. She had to play along, hopefully buy herself some time. Someone was bound to notice she was gone. Steve had been texting and calling her, and it wasn’t like her to not reply for long. 

“Why did you tie me up?” she asked, trying to feign confusion. 

“You know I can’t risk you getting away.” he leaned forward, bringing his hand up to smooth along her side. 

“Y-you’ve never used a sedative before.” 

“No, I’ve just never had to use one before you. And you were getting much too close for comfort.” Jake sighed. “I’ve been planning this for so long, I can’t believe I’m finally here with you.” he breathed. 

“You see me every day.” Drea gulped, feeling itchy where his hand had touched her. 

“Not like this.” he shook his head, leaning back and seeming to drink in the view. “This is exactly what you looked like the first time I saw you, you know. In the back of that book I picked up on a whim…” Jake sighed, a wistful grin on his face. “I started researching you immediately. I watched every interview, every online lecture, every presentation. I moved here for you, I applied to NYU so I could be in your internship program.” 

“You’re very dedicated.” she spoke after a beat of silence. He smiled, shaking his head.

“I’m glad you think so. I was so worried you’d be like the other ones, crying, screaming…” he stood, the chair scraping as it shifted. She tried not to wince at the noise. “Begging.” he leaned over her, and she could feel his breath on her face. It was uncomfortably hot, and she held back a gag. She knew what was coming, and she prayed to every god she didn’t believe in that someone would come and save her. Anyone. He rested her forehead against hers, and she clenched her jaw, her eyes shutting of their own accord. “Don’t do that.” her eyes flew back open at the change in his tone. “I want you to see me.”

“Sorry.” she swallowed a whimper, seeing the change in his expression. “I-I think I’m just nervous. I’ve never met someone who liked me this much before.” 

“Don’t be nervous.” he shook his head, leaning back. “I did all of this for you.”

“Thank you.” she felt the taste of bile in her throat as she said the words. “You’ve done wonderful work.”

“Do you really think so?” he stroked his hand over her cheekbone and she had to stop herself from flinching. 

“O-of course. You’re an incredible young man.” she nodded to him. “You have a great talent, you’re very intelligent. I mean,” she huffed out a laugh, “you sat in a room full of people hunting you and managed to get out unscathed. That’s immensely impressive.” she hoped that padding his ego would relax him and get her more time, she just needed more time. Her heart jumped into her throat at the realization that she wasn’t ready to die. There was so much more she wanted with her life, way more than what she’d done. She didn’t know what she was supposed to do. Would she just go quietly? Let herself be snuffed out without protest? She wasn’t seeing any other choice. But she wanted answers. “Why did you choose Shakespeare, and Anhelo, and white chrysanthemums?” 

“I hate to sound poetic, but you felt so… forbidden.” he lamented, dragging his fingertips down the side of her neck. “I knew you would notice the little things I did, so I made it special. I saw you discover every one of them and it made me know my power, the fact that we were so intimately connected even before you realized it.” he sighed, shaking his head. “I was always a step ahead.”

“So you always expected me to find out it was you?” she asked. He smiled, leaning closer again, and she held herself still, trying not to flinch away.

“You are a very intelligent woman, I knew you would figure it out. I just wish the game could have stayed just between us.” he sighed, nuzzling his head into her shoulder. “Once more people got involved it was just too complicated. I had to make my plans for you fast.”

“And what are your plans for me?” she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer. 

“We… we’re like them. Romeo and Juliet, forbidden, star crossed, I know that you admire me and my work the way that I do yours.” he lifted his head again to stare straight into her eyes, and she mentally kicked herself for not seeing the deranged look he had sooner. “We can’t exist together, but we can’t be apart either. It's like a paradox, and I need to correct it.”

“Why can’t we exist together, Jake?” she was hoping that something she would say could change his mind. It was small, but the hope was there. “I wouldn’t mind existing with you.” she laughed nervously, and he froze, leaning over her with a dark look in his eyes. 

“Are you sure about that, or would Agent Barnes want to get between us?” her blood turned to ice in her veins. 

“W-what are you talking about?” 

“As soon as he walked in the room on that first day, I knew you had feelings for him. And he had feelings for you. And then all of my work was for what if he was just going to come take you away!” he stood with a roar, kicking the chair and knocking it over. Her heart began to beat faster, this wasn’t good. “So now I have to make sure he can’t steal you from me.” 

“Well, I-I wouldn’t let him do that.” she shook her head, and he whirled on her. 

“Don’t fucking lie. Something happened with you two recently, I can tell. The way you two look at each other, talk to each other, it's disgusting. He’s not good enough for you, nobody is good enough! Not even me, and that’s why I have to do this. It’s what I was meant to do.” his hands were shaking as he reached to the nightstand, and a lump appeared in her throat as she saw the unassuming tape dispenser. So it was starting. “I need you to see me, to see everything I’ve gone through for you.” of every killer, kidnapper, bomber that she’d ever caught, she’d never expected her to be in the position that she was in now. 

In every single case, Drea would wonder how those poor victims could let themselves get into these situations. Now she realized she was no different. She held back a defeated sob as he taped her eyelids open, feeling her eyes begin to burn when she was no longer able to blink. After a few moments her vision blurred, her eyes were tearing up to make up for the dryness. This was what all the other women who’d died had gone through. Drea almost felt as if she deserved it. 

Jake leaned down, pressing a kiss against her lips, but she didn’t respond. She felt disgusted, disturbed, and she fought the urge to bite his tongue off. The feeling of his hands on her was revolting. She almost wished he would just kill her and get it over with.

“I was hoping you’d be more forthcoming by the time we got to this.” he commented, pulling away. She merely stared up at him, not willing to do much else. His face darkened, and he raised his hand, smacking her across the face. He was becoming more violent, less organized - he was unraveling. Drea realized she didn’t have much time left.

“I might be if you untied me.” she tried again.

“I know the moment I untie you, you’ll leave.” he shook his head. 

“You have my word that I wouldn’t do something like that. I wouldn’t leave you, Jake.” Drea was desperate. 

“I wish I believed you.” he scoffed. He reached down for his belt, unbuckling the front and pulling it from the loops. She tensed as he wrapped it around her neck, pulling the end until it was snug around her throat. 

“So this is the end of us?” her voice was trembling. 

“Don’t worry.” Jake sighed. “I’ll make sure my face is the last thing you see.”  
………………

“Can you drive faster?” Bucky snapped as Lang wove through traffic, his siren blaring as they made their way to where Tony last tracked Drea.

“Uh, I have to wait for people to move out of my way. I can’t just drive through the cars in front of me.” he pulled the wheel to the right especially quickly and Bucky barely avoided bashing his head into the window. 

“I should’ve taken my bike, I would have been there by now.” he said through clenched teeth. 

“Well it isn’t my fault that there are other people on the road. We’re five minutes out.” Scott sighed, turning down the street. “Should we go in for stealth? 

“No shit, turn the siren off.” Bucky scowled, reaching over to do it himself. 

“Hey, okay it’s my car, I can do it.” Scott swatted at Bucky’s hand with a huff. “You don’t have to be all hostile all the time.” Bucky decided he didn’t want to reply to that. He was silent as they rolled up to an unassuming, dingy little house on the edge of the cemetery. 

“This is it?” Bucky asked, patting his hip to check his glock was holstered. 

“Yeah, should we wait for backup?” Scott looked out the back window of the squad car. They’d been the first to arrive. 

“I’m not waiting for backup.” Bucky shook his head, opening the door and practically jumping out. He was geared up, wearing his vest over the red henley he’d put on that morning, and he was carrying an extra weapon on his ankle. He drew his gun immediately, striding towards the front door, not waiting for Lang to catch up. He heard the driver’s side door shut quietly as Scott scampered next to him, and they tiptoed up the front steps one after the other. Bucky hesitated at the front door, pressing his ear against it to see if there was any sign of disturbance. He could barely hear muffled speaking on the other side, so they must not have been close to the door. 

He prayed that they’d gotten there before anything bad happened to Drea. Ugh. How the hell could he have let this happen? He should have seen the signs, hell it was right in front of his face the entire time. He knew he didn’t like the little bastard, but he just didn’t have any reason for it. Bucky just thought he was a smug little asshole, but now he knew that there was something much worse lurking underneath that kid’s skin. He tried the door, sighing in relief when he found it unlocked. So the kid was cocky, he thought they wouldn’t have figured it out in time. 

“I’ll go this way, you go that way.” Lang whispered, pointing Bucky towards the end of the hallway while Lang cleared the rest of the first floor rooms. They split off, and Bucky followed the sound of voices down the last two doors in the hallway. 

“You don’t have to do this.” Bucky nearly froze as he heard Drea speak. He was filled with a mixture of relief and despair, knowing that she was still alright, but only as long as he could get inside and take Jake down without anything terrible happening. “Please. Don’t.” he flinched at the tone of her voice, it was strained, and she sounded subdued, or resigned to her fate. He hated that she sounded like that. Bucky peeked inside the cracked door. He could see a long, bare leg that definitely belonged to Drea, but he also saw she was wearing underwear. That was a small relief. 

“You know I don’t have a choice. I do have to do this, Drea.” Bucky hesitated at the sound of Jake’s voice. He could hear the way the kid’s demeanor had shifted, he felt confident in the situation as opposed to nervous and scared like he usually did. That could be problematic, especially if he had a weapon. Bucky placed his gloved palm on the door, slowly pushing it forward. If it creaked at all, he was ready to spring into action, but so far it was completely silent. 

As soon as it was open enough to see Drea’s face, he cringed. Her face was covered in tears from her watering eyes, the tape had pulled her eyelids so they were stuck open, and they were red as hell. She probably could barely see at this point, and his stomach rolled at the thought of what she’d been through. He laid his eyes on Jake next, and felt his blood boiling in his veins. The kid was in the midst of taking his pants off, focused solely on Drea. And, he was unarmed. He cocked his gun, stepping in without worry.

“Don’t move another inch.” Bucky demanded, and both Jake and Drea froze. “Put your hands up and step away from her.” Jake turned, pants half down, raising his hands above his head momentarily before diving down and grabbing the belt wrapped around Drea’s neck, yanking it high enough that he was almost completely behind her. Bucky swore, reanalyzing his shot as Jake gave a gleeful grin. 

“I knew it would be you to come. I thought I’d be done before you got here, but I still knew it was you.” Bucky’s stomach rolled at his words. 

“Unfortunately for you, I came early. Let her go, or I shoot you.” Bucky threatened, even though Jake and Drea were too close together for him to comfortably take him down. 

“You won’t be able to shoot me unless you shoot through her.” Drea gasped for breath, writhing against her restraints as she was strangled. If Bucky didn’t do something quickly, she’d soon run out of air, and he didn’t come all this fucking way to watch her die. Jake turned to leer at her, exposing his head from behind her arm, and without another thought Bucky took aim and pulled the trigger. It was loud in the closed space, and the brain matter that exploded over the wall was enough to make even him pause, but Drea’s gasp for air pulled him from his thoughts. He rushed forwards, holstering the gun and pulling Jake’s body away from her. There was a bullet hole through his temple, and he wasn’t breathing, but that wasn’t what concerned Bucky at the moment. No, it was Drea’s purple lips. He quickly unlooped the belt from around her neck, wincing at the angry red line it left behind, and she coughed, sputtering as a fresh wave of tears leaked from her eyes. 

“Hey, hey, come here.” he tilted her head as she pulled in as much air as she possibly could, peeling the tape from her eyes carefully. She immediately closed her bloodshot eyes, a whimper leaving her throat. They probably burned terribly. “You alright?” he murmured, and she fluttered her eyelids, trying to look up with him through her blurry vision. 

“Yeah, I’ll be alright.” she croaked, head turning towards the door at the sound of footsteps. “Steve.” she let out a crackly sigh. Bucky turned to look as well, seeing him quickly put his gun in his holster as he stepped over to check Jake’s pulse. He glanced up with a grimace, shaking his head.

“So, it was a one man job?” Steve sighed.

“Well, Lang and I could’ve done with some backup, but there was nobody here yet and the clock was ticking.” Bucky was working on the knot that held Drea’s hands to the bedpost. Once they were free, she reached up to touch the angry red mark on her neck, wincing where her fingertips brushed. It hurt, badly, but she wouldn’t complain as long as she was alive. 

“I’m just glad you guys made it.” Drea croaked, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. Her bare legs. She tried not to shudder. He hadn’t gotten far, but he’d gotten closer to his goal than she was comfortable with. Steve grabbed her pants and handed them to her, pointedly looking away as she slid them on. 

“There’s an ambulance outside, let’s get you out there so they can check up on you. Buck, can you get a team in here with a bag?” Steve glanced down at Jake’s body before taking hold of Drea’s elbow, getting her up and away from the scene.

“Sure.” Bucky nodded, getting to work. After getting Jake’s body out of the house, he kept his distance while Drea got checked over by the paramedics. They gave her some painkillers and eyedrops, but overall she seemed okay. He hid a smile. She was strong, even when she didn’t have to be. Nobody would have blamed her if she had cried, or screamed, or moaned, but she kept insisting she would be fine. That’s my girl, he thought, then froze. Was she his girl? Or was she going to ask him to kindly fuck off, now that the case was over. He knew the answer he wanted, but he wasn’t sure if she wanted the same. A lot had changed in ten years, and he’d hurt her pretty badly. He remembered the night he almost came running back. She had called him, which he ignored like usual, but it was what she left in her message that broke his heart. A kid had died on her watch, and she was shattered over it. All he wanted to do was get on his bike and fly up to New York just to hold her and tell her everything would be okay. It definitely was not an easy job, his missing arm was a testament to that. After the paramedic had walked off, he saw her scanning the crowd of squad cars and police that were mingling about until she reached his gaze. Her eyes lit up when she saw him, and she gave him one of those radiant smiles that he’d missed so much. She lifted her hand and gave him a quick gesture to come over to her, and he raised one of his eyebrows as he tried to hold back a grin. He tried to walk quickly, but he ended up doing some weird half-jog thing that might’ve made him seem too eager. But he was eager, if he was being honest, to hear what she wanted to say to him. 

“So.” she smiled up at him from where she was sitting on a stretcher. “Case closed?”

“I guess you could say that.” he stuffed his hands into his pockets, trying not to smile too wide at her. “I suppose justice has been served, not in my favorite way to end a case, but it’s served, and… yadda yadda yadda.” he knew he sounded stupid, but he was just happy to be talking to her. This day could have ended a lot differently. “I see you’re doing alright though, right?” he raised an eyebrow at her, and she nodded.

“I for sure thought I wouldn’t be sitting here today.” she sighed, leaning back with a clouded look in her eyes. “I’m actually surprised you guys figured it out so quickly.”

“Well, I hate to admit it,” Bucky grimaced, glancing back towards the squad cars with a pained look on his face, “but we wouldn’t have figured it out without Lang.”

“You’re kidding!” she gasped, an incredulous look on her face. “Did you thank him? Because I’m about to!” she chuckled at the sour look he shot her. “Fine, you can thank him in your own Bucky way. However you do stuff like that now.” 

“You’re not gonna thank me for busting in like a superhero and saving you?” he raised an eyebrow, leaning a bit closer to her. She held back a gasp at the playful gleam in his eye. That was the Bucky she remembered, and little snippets of him were shining through every time she saw him. 

“Well, I feel like words aren't enough. What would you do in my position?” she asked, biting her lip to hide her grin. 

“Hmm, I would start with a dinner invitation?” he asked hopefully. She pretended to muse it over for a moment, tapping her finger against her chin. 

“Hmm, does that mean you’re sticking around for a while?” Drea gave a coy grin.

“I asked for a little time off.” he shrugged. “Sam’s glad I’m out of his hair, and I get to catch up with an old acquaintance. It’s a win-win.” 

“I might have some time for dinner, then. How’s Tuesday?” he winced. A Tuesday night dinner didn’t exactly scream “date” to him. 

“Sure.” he nodded, forcing a grin. 

“Good. I’m off for the next two weeks, and I don’t think I can wait until Friday to see you again.” she admitted, and he felt his smile return. “You can pick me up on that sexy little bike and I will not be bringing my wallet.” she pursed her lips. 

“Uh, why exactly is that?” his eyes were wide with confusion, and she reached out to pinch his cheek.

“Because I’m a classy lady, and classy ladies don’t pay on the first date.” Drea grinned, and Bucky felt both relieved and nervous at the same time.

“Glad to know we’re on the same page.” he chuckled. He heard his name being called from the huddle of officers behind him, and tried not to groan. “Well, duty calls. Promise you’ll remember me while I’m gone?” he took a step back, but was stopped when her fingers reached out and grabbed the neck of his vest.

“I’m sure I won’t have a problem doing that.” she smiled, pulling him in for a kiss. They ignored the hoots of their friends around them, instead they enjoyed the nice moment while it lasted. 

“See you Tuesday?” he broke off the kiss with another step back, and the grin on her face was infectious. 

“Tuesday.” she nodded, and he turned and walked off, sneaking another glance at her as he left. She brushed her fingers over her lips, trying to reign in her glee, but it was kind of hard when she felt so happy. She decided, right then and there, that even if he went back to Quantico, she wasn’t about to let him get away that easy. She saw Natasha approach with a knowing smirk, and she groaned internally.

“Seems like you two worked things out.” she crossed her arms, staring down to where Barnes was getting briefed. 

“Well, I guess you could say that.” Drea smiled, leaning back onto her palms. Natasha turned to her with a leering smile.

“Now, what did I say about playing dumb?”


End file.
